Fast Buses

So I have broken another of the Canadian rules/helpful pieces of advice. It is said (or perhaps written somewhere) that when travelling out of Kampala you are to take the Post Bus, that’s it! Definitely not Horizon, or gateway and definitely not a taxi.

Well on more than one occasion I have taken a taxi for short hops – to Luwero and Kamuli – where the post bus doesn’t go. I took GaaGaa Bus from Arua, but they haven’t crashed in the last six months (a GOOD safety record), and Jaguar to Kigali (the safest and again no post bus).

On the recent trip to Lake Bunyonyi, I had to get to Kabale and a slow bus departing at 8am wasn’t appealing to me. So, I took the Jaguar bus headed for Kigali. No problems save for running out of gas…. twice. How a bus runs out of petrol twice truly escapes me.

The trip back was significantly sketchier. I had spent the day in Katuna (the border town – more on that later) and arrived back in Kabale at 3:30pm. It looked like the only option that faced me to get back to work on time on Wednesday was to find a place to stay then catch the 2 am Gateway. I’d heard the horror stories about Gateway and this was not a pleasing option, but what is a girl to do? So as the person I had caught a lift with pulled into the parking lot of Gateway a bus pulled up. The guy selling tickets yelled sh 15,000 and I joined the stampeed of people trying to get out of town.

The conductor tried to charge me sh 20,000. I began to throw such a fit that the poor guy quickly handed over my balance and avoided me the rest of the trip. I hope I taught him a lesson about trying to make a quick sh 5,000 off a muzungu.

Then I settled in for the 7-8 hour ride. Knowing the first leg – to Mbarara – would take about 3 hours. An hour and 45 minutes later we arrived, and we hit Masaka at the 3.5 hour mark. The Amahoro bus driver moved like a bat out of hell. It is always bad news when the locals around you are alternately yelling for the driver to slow down and praying.

We would have been in Kampala (and I eating for the first time since morning) at 8:35 pm (exactly 5 hours after leaving Kabale) had we not run out of fuel. Indeed the crazy driving was all for not as we sat for the better part of an hour watching every vehicle we past, pass us. A man was sent off with jerry cans, and 15 minutes after he returned with petrol we arrived in Kampala.

I would love to get on transport just once in this country that: doesn’t try to screw me, isn’t run by criminals, and travels safely. One of these three would be great, all three a miracle.

Did I learn a lesson? Not really, but I will definitely avoid Amahoro – unless I am going to Bujumbura, Burundi – as it is the only bus that goes there.