in transit

I ♥ Kampala


On the road east of Kampala


The River Nile


A hustler at the Tanzanian/Kenyan border

Buses can't drive in Uganda and Tanzania at night for security reasons, but Kampala Coaches is a clever company. Their bus leaves Arusha, Tanzania about 3:30 p.m. It reaches the Kenyan border as the sun sets. In Kenya, buses can drive at night because the country can afford to hire traffic police 24 hours. The bus then reaches the Ugandan border at about 6 a.m., as the sun rises.

It's a long bus ride. It took me longer to get from Arusha, Tanzania to Fort Portal, Uganda than it did for me to travel from St. Louis to Nairobi via airplane. Once the bus reached Kampala, we took lunch and boarded another bus to arrive in Fort Portal, a three to four hour drive west of Kampala. When the trip is about the journey and not the destination, luckily it matters not how long it takes.