I love the game we like to play on the Race called, “How Many World Racers Can You Stuff In or On the Vehicle.â€� It’s quite the spectacle, and quite the entertainment for Racers and locals alike. So let’s see if you can figure out the game:
You have a 14 passenger van called a Matatu … how many passengers will it fit?
As many as you want, because you don’t have to close the door, you can have people hanging onto the outside, and you can stack more than one person in each seat, duh! So for us — we currently hold the record for our team (as previously mentioned) of 24 adults, 2 babies, and 1 live chicken.
You have a Taxi aka a car with too many white people in it … how many passengers will it fit?
As many as the driver will let you, so pick your driver wisely. It’s much more cost efficient to fit 8 Racers and 1 Driver in one 5 passenger vehicle, than having to take two, duh! So how do you fit in these vehicles you may ask, well, there’s a few different methods. Usually between people sitting on the floor, people sharing the front seat, people piling in the very back trunk area, and sitting on someone’s lap you can make it work.
You have a Piki Piki aka a motorcycle/dirt bike thing … how many passengers will it fit?
Only three, of course, safety first. Okay, actually, that’s a lie, I’m sure I have seen it fit a lot more people and stuff, but we limit it to two Racers and the driver. I mean we already don’t get helmets, and we already usually always find out we’re going to ride these lovely motorcycle things when we are in skirts. Got to love me some modesty in Africa. But it’s okay because, you begin to appreciate not having to walk in the rain sometimes when you do get to take these little bundles of fun. But please note, if you have had a monsoon recently or any abundance of rain, this is not recommended for your mode of travel that day.
So how did you do at the game?
Now don’t get me wrong, Africa is super concerned with road safety, as you will see by the excessive number of speed bumps they put on the major highway roads here, of course! That’s obviously the best way to make sure everyone is safe in all these overcrowded vehicles on roads with no lanes and a constant game of “honk your horn to pass and then dodge back in front to miss the oncoming vehicle.â€�
We also like that vehicles assume they can fit in any tight space between any other vehicle, never have I ever thought we were going to take off someone’s side view mirror so many times!
Also, if you’re a pedestrian, this is also a game of, “look left, look right, look left, look right … look behind you because that bicycle is about to take you out.â€� (Oh and don’t think the bicycle won’t take you out just because you were there first, it can happen, so use caution when you underestimate that little non-motorized form of African transportation known as the Boda Boda.) Then when you do have your window of opportunity, you don’t actually proceed across at a fast pace, rather you just take authority over the road and you walk across at the pace of a snail. Apparently, it’s assumed when you run or walk fast, you will fall, so we use our slow feet and cross with caution. Safety first in Africa.
