In Bugiri, the small town in Uganda we lived in, people are considered well off if they own a bicycle. This is the common form of transportation here, as it is in much of the world.
Motos/Boda Bodas are motorcycles/bicycles used for public transportation. We’ve ridden these quite a bit in Africa.
Since few people have cars, bicycles and motos are used not only to ride on, but also to carry random items. Often we’d see people walking alongside their bikes pushing them because they had such a heavy bulky load strapped on it was impossible to ride.
In the last few months in Africa, these are some of the random items I’ve seen on the back of these:
Boxes of various sizes
Jackfruit, a local fruit that grows everywhere in Uganda
Bed frame
Furniture
Boards
Plastic dishes
Huge bags of charcoal
I didn't get pictures of these but think they're still worth noting:
-Firewood
-Mattresses
-Stack of tires
-Dead pig. A big one. About three feet long, hanging off the sides, as the Moto weaved in and out of traffic in the city.
-Water cans, empty and full
-Up to 6 huge bundles of bananas. Not your American size bundle. We’re talking two feet long, just picked off a tree, bundle.
-Ketchup. One evening our pastor rode to the store to buy us ketchup and came back with a single bottle of it strapped to the back of the bicycle. I thought it was hilarious. I promise I’m not going crazy. It’s probably one of those things where you had to be there to think it’s funny….
Strangest thing on a bicycle– Fresh zebra skins piled on top of each other with the head lying on top! Is that even legal?!
