More driving tales

We were entertained by baboons as we waited for the ferry

Our special hire to take Amy, Carl, and Tracy to the airport for their flight to London was 45 minutes late arriving at our apartment. The driver, Munday, knew we were anxious to make up for lost time, and actually the trip there went fine. The only place we hit a delay was at the police checkpoint at the airport entrance, but by then we knew we were in good shape. Munday, though, was still hustling. There was a line of about 30 cars. He quickly assessed the situation and then pulled around the whole line, drove ahead, and pushed his way back in at the front. We were all sinking down in our seats and hiding our faces. Ugandans tend to be aggressive drivers with a "to the victor go the spoils" attitude. The car he was cutting off tried not to let him in, but otherwise no one protested, no honking horns or anything. He had won and that was that.

When we were on safari we saw a similar maneuver backfire, however. We were waiting to get on the eight-car ferry to take us back across the Nile River after our morning's game drive. Our van was about fourth in line. The ferry, which we could clearly see across the river (it's only about a 7-minute ride), had broken down and so was delayed. By the time we waited the hour and a half it took for it to get repaired, there were about a dozen vehicles waiting. People were hot, tired, and hungry. The order was clear for loading on the ferry, but a couple drivers pulled a Munday and cut in, one of them almost hitting a passenger. The passenger became angry and threw a rock at the driver's windshield, shattering half of it. Then it was the driver's turn to get mad. He confronted the passenger, yelling and waving his arms. He demanded immediate payment for the cost of repairing the windshield and threatened to throw the man into the Nile if he didn't pay up. He even grabbed the man at one point. By now a child was crying in fear and other drivers and passengers were trying to defuse the situation. Eventually the ferry started moving and we got across the river. We found out later that the passenger paid up, and we saw the driver laughing and joking with the other drivers, so he must have been satisfied.

Karen