Sunday, March 20, 2016

A GLIMPSE OF KAMPALA, UGANDA - THE PEARL OF AFRICA 20 March 2016

A GLIMPSE OF UGANDA

 We arrived at night but there was still a lot of hustle and bustle going on.....




 They just finished their election - Yoweri Museveni won again!  He has been Ugandan's president since 29 January 1986.  People are protesting the results.  There were armored guards all around the city.
 Most of these pictures were taken from the car - sorry about the poor quality.






 One stop shopping - shoes, clothes, furniture, etc.






 Saturday is a school day - 6 days in school
 This is a roundabout with a gate in the middle.  The kings palace is the top of this hill.  Only his procession goes through that gate which leads to parliament which is directly across from his palace (down the hill and up another).


 Taken from on top of a tower that we climbed





 Toys for sale

 I had to put in this bad picture because it is the only one I had of the chickens for sale on the side of the road...not the little girl.

 A cafe on the shores of Lake Victoria
The next four pictures are of the residence of the kings servants



Uganda is known for their boda bodas - a two-wheeled motorcycle taxi (shortened from border-border). The boda-boda taxis are part of the Ugandan culture.  They started in the 1960's - 1970's when there was a need to transport people across the "no-man's land" between the border posts. The bicycle owners would shout out boda-boda to potential customers. There are over 90,000 boda bodas in Uganda.  They were all over and they follow their own traffic rules.  Anna, a friend we made there, told us that she takes the boda boda when she gets off work late and the taxi's (kombi's) are not around.  Also, she said that when it is raining, she will call a boda-boda to pick up her daughter from school and take her home.  They are most expensive than kombi's. Here are the BODA-BODAs:
One thing I found interesting is that all the drivers wore helmets but the passengers were helmetless.

 Anna told us that you share the price if you can get more than one on a boda-boda.  Most times they are total strangers that you are sitting with.
 How about this instead of a school bus?

 They have their own traffic laws - they go in between the cars, trucks and kombi's.  Traffic is horrific in Kambala.  Takes hours to go such a short distance.  But not for the boda-bodas.








WE LOVED KAMPALA, UGANDA!!!  Africa never ceases to amaze me and Uganda did not disappoint.  Uganda is called the PEARL OF AFRICA because it has perfect weather all year round.  It is always lush and green and tropical.  The equator runs through it which I found interesting.  It is absolutely beautiful.  We were there for only three days which most was spent training some of our church history advisers.  More details about the trip coming in a future post.  Just wanted to share this amazing city with you.

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