Sometimes special African phenomena appear already so normal to us that we don't give it a second thought anymore. There are the ancient looking ox carriages you see next to the roads. In some countries people had donkeys and especially in Botswana where there are much more donkeys than people, there were 3 or 4 in front of the carriages.
Other than this goats and chicken roam the streets everywhere, sometimes cattle but only in the slightly richer areas. Women carry babies on their back and luggage on the head or whatever they just shopped and most importantly, women ALWAYS wear long skirts. I bought myself one the other day in order to be less conspicuous. Appearantly knees are considered a sexual symbol, so walking around in a mini skirt raises lots of attention and comments.
Transportation is another topic. In areas where people own bicycles you often see more than 1 person on it. Usually men are riding it and a woman, a toddler or both sit on the back including the groceries. In general it is more the men who are traveling, be it by car, bike, bus or whatsoever. Women you see next to the roads are mostly walking with firewood on their head, or shopping items, or they are washing cloth or preparing food.
Whenever you see a vehicle with loading space it is full with people. In case there is actually cargo loaded at least one person is sitting on it in order to protect it from thieves.
The most African phenomenon however is the minibus.
Imagine a 9seater-bus. Imagine how you consider it full, when every seat is taken. Imagine how cheeky you would feel when you squeeze one more person in, criminal even... And now take this scene to Africa: add another 10-12 people, half of them with babies, chuck a couple of live chicken in, fill the gaps with big bags full with rice or potatoes, some luggage here and there and age the minibus by 20 years. There you go, that is medium distance traveling in Africa.
Long distance traveling is done in normal big busses (everything between 1 and 20 years old vehicles) but it doesn't mean you have a seat for yourself.
Sometimes the only way to escape this craziness is investing in a taxi, which is mostly not official, but it gives you some much needed space...
Other than this goats and chicken roam the streets everywhere, sometimes cattle but only in the slightly richer areas. Women carry babies on their back and luggage on the head or whatever they just shopped and most importantly, women ALWAYS wear long skirts. I bought myself one the other day in order to be less conspicuous. Appearantly knees are considered a sexual symbol, so walking around in a mini skirt raises lots of attention and comments.
Transportation is another topic. In areas where people own bicycles you often see more than 1 person on it. Usually men are riding it and a woman, a toddler or both sit on the back including the groceries. In general it is more the men who are traveling, be it by car, bike, bus or whatsoever. Women you see next to the roads are mostly walking with firewood on their head, or shopping items, or they are washing cloth or preparing food.
Whenever you see a vehicle with loading space it is full with people. In case there is actually cargo loaded at least one person is sitting on it in order to protect it from thieves.
The most African phenomenon however is the minibus.
Imagine a 9seater-bus. Imagine how you consider it full, when every seat is taken. Imagine how cheeky you would feel when you squeeze one more person in, criminal even... And now take this scene to Africa: add another 10-12 people, half of them with babies, chuck a couple of live chicken in, fill the gaps with big bags full with rice or potatoes, some luggage here and there and age the minibus by 20 years. There you go, that is medium distance traveling in Africa.
Long distance traveling is done in normal big busses (everything between 1 and 20 years old vehicles) but it doesn't mean you have a seat for yourself.
Sometimes the only way to escape this craziness is investing in a taxi, which is mostly not official, but it gives you some much needed space...
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