Two more records

I think we may have broken two records today in one. We needed to go
about 40 kilometres north of Masindi, a fairly decent sized town in the
north west of Uganda, to try and track some chimpanzees. I went to the
matata terminal (matata is the Ugandan word for the ubiquitous Toyota
Hiaces that have become Africa's share taxis and therefore main mode of
transport) at around 7.30 and the right matata was pointed out and I was
instructed to return in an hour for departure. Damo and I showed up an
hour later to greet an empty matata - not a good sign in a country where
nothing leaves before it is full. So we waited, and we waited and then
when we had finished waiting, we waited some more. So that, we didn't
actually leave the terminal until 12.30. We then of course drove through
town to the petrol station to put some air in the tyres and get some
petty. By this point it started to rain so we had to unpack our bags off
the roof and throw them in the back.
By this stage however we had probably already set a record, Damo counted
up 26 passengers plus three babies - 4 rows of 4, the driver and two
passengers in the front, and the two money collectors/luggage boys
squeezed in to the front two rows - oh, and there were also three babies
on board !!!
We finally left down and the rain pelted down, and motored along at a
decent speed, stopping now and then to drop folks off, and each time
requiring a roll start. We eventually made it to our destination at
around 2.30 - six hours after we started waiting. So it took us six
hours to cover 40 kilometres - and the killer - turns out that they
don't track chimps there any more, so back on the road trying to hitch a
lift. We finally made it back to Masindi at around 7 pm - a long day
going nowhere !!!