Adventures on the Taxis

Over the last couple of weeks, I have had the opportunity to travel by taxi a few times with some very interesting stories. Taxis are quite different here in Uganda, to begin with they are 15 seat Toyota vans. It is very common to find a taxi with 20-25 people packed into them (even though they clearly state on the side that they are licenced to carry 14 passengers), since the driver wants to make it worthwhile to drive from one location to another. When catching a taxi is it actually better to look for one that is quite full as it will be leaving soon, otherwise you could be sitting and waiting a half hour or longer for the van to fill up enough to go. As you are driving along, the taxis stops and picks up more people and somehow people manage to squeeze in (sometimes 5 people along a bench seat).  Even though they often try to overcharge us because we are white, it is still very cheap to take a taxi. Depending on where you are going, the most it has cost us is 3000 shillings each (which is just over a dollar). There have been many adventures on the taxis, from stopping to change a tire, live chickens, and random babies sitting on the seats.

On one ride when we got in (Miriam, Diana, and I), there was a baby just sitting on the seat. The mother ended up being in the front of the taxi, but we ended up having a very cute baby with us for the journey J

It is also very common to find live animals on the taxi (mostly chickens). Most of the time you can just hear them, but sometimes you find yourself seating next to a person holding an untied chicken in their lap.

There is never a dull moment on the taxi rides, lol J