Trip to Uganda- Kampala & silver springs

After three years in Rwanda, I finally seized the chance to visit Uganda, Rwanda’s vibrant northern neighbor, tagging along with a friend to a Toastmasters conference in Kampala, the Ugandan capital. What followed was an 11-hour bus adventure filled with unexpected twists, from a passenger left behind at the border to the thrill of exchanging Rwandan Francs for what felt like a fortune in Ugandan Shillings. Here’s part one of my journey to another East-African country. This post may be longer than anticipated because of the many interesting moments so I have to break it up into parts.

The beginning - Kigali

The journey was done by coach bus from Nyabugogo bus park and took approximately 11 hours.

We departed Kigali around 7pm CAT with the Trinity bus service. Once we left the city center after Nyabugogo, the road was mostly empty. The bus was spacious with adjustable seats, USB ports and a foldable table like you find in airplanes. It wasn’t full and had some empty seats especially at the back. Here is a picture of the bus interior for reference.

I was able to get a window seat for my assigned seat number but it didn’t make much of a difference in the night time since it was so dark you only saw the lights of the buildings streak past and couldn’t see very far from the road where the light from the streetlights ended. After settling into the cozy Trinity bus, we were ready for the 11-hour ride to Kampala. Little did we know, the border crossing would bring its own surprises. We had no issues with the buses in general except another issue on the rest stops which I hope to speak about later.

From the Rwandan capital, Kigali, ; it took 2 hours to reach the Rwanda-Uganda border, the majority of the time remaining for the journey was from the border to Kampala which is close to the center of Uganda.

Border -Uganda+ Rwanda

At the border, we first went through a health screening with temperature checks. West Africans, like me, also had to show a yellow fever vaccination card. The border checkpoint was not very busy there were two or three other buses like ours arriving and departing with their passengers also in line. The temperature of the night air was comfortably cool as we waited in line to complete the temperature checks. Then we went through a security check with our luggage then headed to Rwandan immigration. After this, you guessed it, we moved to Ugandan Immigration with a few questions. Luckily, Ghanaians don’t need a visa to enter Uganda. We also had a poster for the toastmasters event with location and time details on hand.

Travel Tip: Always keep your passport and vaccination card handy at East African borders, and stay close to your bus during rest stops—drivers may not wait!

We took this opportunity to exchange our money. There was a forex bureau at the border, a small kiosk attached to what appeared to be a restaurant-supermarket. The attendants seemed ready and waiting, seems they were used to getting travellers at night. The bureau accepted mobile money and cash in Rwandan Francs(RWF), Ugandan Shillings(UGX) and US dollars so we made a quick exchange for some of our money. At that time it seemed like a lot of money, the exchange rate from RWF to UGX was ~3 UGX to 1 RWF; our money seemed to have been multiplied by 3, or so we thought.

No passenger left behind?

We didn’t linger long at the forex bureau, but when we returned to the bus, final passenger checks were already underway. We waited outside until an officer stepped off, checked our passports, and let us board. We got to our seats on the bus and not a minute later the bus took off heading for Kampala.

‘Chauffeur, CHAUFFER! …’, someone shouted above the roar of the engines. It seems there was someone missing, not yet in the bus; we had barely exited the border checkpoint. We thought it was reasonable for the driver to wait a couple of minutes for this person, perhaps someone delayed at immigration or was using the washroom. However, the driver kept the bus moving, exiting the checkpoint and turning unto a dark road even as more passengers joined the shouting. I would say he even sped up and kept ignoring the passenger’s pleas.

My friend, Abdul-Jalil and I were so shocked, we looked at each other, we couldn’t imagine getting left behind by the bus and much more in a foreign country. Perhaps what shocked us more was the driver who didn’t say anything in response. The other passengers started murmuring something about the unfortunate person taking a motorbike. For context this was around 10pm in Ugandan time (Uganda is 1 hour ahead of Kigali’s time CAT) at a border checkpoint that didn’t seem to have any nearby communities. In our travelling experience, we were used to some kind of announcement that a bus was departing and perhaps a last minute check from the driver to make sure that everyone was accounted for to make sure no one was left behind at a stop. Apparently none of that was standard for this trip and you either made it on time or were left behind in a country you may be visiting for the first time. The was a sign at the border checkpoint prohibiting honking but it still does not excuse what appears to be the hurried rush from the driver to depart without accounting for all passengers.

The coach continued down the dark road; the road from Kigali had streetlights up to the border, the road to Kampala from the border had no streetlights so we sped off into the darkness. I sometimes wonder what happened to that passenger, probably standing at the border checkpoint watching their bus rumble into the night.

Hope to work on a part 2 tomorrow, no this week … sigh… soon. In part two, I hope to share the vibrant sights, sounds and food of Kampala. See you soon.