Walter’s Boda Tours of Kampala

Walter

The best way to see Kampala is by motorbike, or Boda Boda as they are called in Kampala. I was lucky enough to have a brilliant boda driver when I lived here; Walter.

Walter was always on call to ferry the muzungos from place to place and over the six months I spent living in Kampala while on a VSO  placement he became a good friend.

As well as working as a boda he also established Walter’sBoda Boda Tours; using his enthusiasm, intelligence and knowledge of the country to drive and guide tourists around the city.

Kampala on Walter's boda at night

Returning to Uganda this year it was fantastic to see how his business has taken off! Walter now has ten boda guys who work for him and they run a range of tours around the city and beyond to Jinja, Entebbe  or even as far as the equator

I’ve been lucky enough to take a few tours with Walter so far. The city tour is my favourite and takes in the sights such as the Gadaffi Mosque, built in 2006 it’s the second largest mosque in Africa. The views from the top are breathtaking, overlooking the whole city and all the hills with Lake Victoria as the backdrop.

View from the Gaddafi Mosque

From the mosque you can see most of the landmarks the tour takes you to such as the Kings Palace, churches and the Baha’i Temple (although as I lived a few minutes’ walk from this we omitted it from my tour..)

Driving to the Gaddafi Mosque

The tours were a great thing to do when friends came to visit – it make sightseeing much easier and Walter as a guide always puts a smile on everyone’s face.

The King's Palace

Rolex for breakfast

Seeing how fantastically his business has taken off over the past year I was keen to do another tour on my return this time. He runs a great tour of the lake..

Unfortunately due to other commitments on my part I wasn’t able to do the full tour but Walter still made sure I saw as much as possible in the limited time.

We had breakfast at his favourite rolex stand. Rolex is a traditional Uganda/Kampala food of eggs with tomato wrapped in a chapatti – I can’t believe I hadn’t had one until now. It was delicious!

Walter at Lake Victoria 

After helping me with a few errands we drove out to the lake past Munyonyo. It was wonderful to see everyone going about their day to day lives, cleaning vehicles, running businesses and fishing for Nile perch and tilapia.

What a feast we had of a huge fresh tilapia barbecued and served with a large helping of chips and salad.

Finishing lunch just as a big storm hit the lake we raced back to town avoiding as much of the rain as possible and getting me back in plenty of time for my flight home.

Lunch of freshly caught tilapia

Next time I visit I’ll make sure I take the full Lake Tour as I would have loved to sail the boat over to the island and explore further.

For anyone heading to Uganda I’d recommend a day or two in Kampala and give Walter a call on +256791880106 to arrange your tour or visit his website.

Life on Inle Lake

Floating gardens, fishermen, jumping cats, stilt villages, handmade silver; Inle Lake has it all.

Perched on our wooden canoe with umbrellas for shade we spent the day meandering though villages and communities living on the lake.

The floating gardens cultivated by the Intha tribe utilise the lake’s richness. We careful sailed past row upon row of tomatoes. The ripened produce is sailed to shore on small dugout canoes appearing to almost sink with the weight.

Villages on stilts rose above us – although in the rainy season they would be much closer to the water.

Fishermen use the unique leg rowing technique; wrapping their foot around the paddle leaving both hands free for fishing.

Daily life on the lake looks simple; washing in the water, buying essentials from the stilted shops, farming and fishing. 

Tourism is also a source of income. Workshops with demonstrations of weaving, silver making, cigar rolling, etc make for an interesting stop. Although the tours include a few too many, especially with the inflated prices in the shops at the end of each workshop. I still couldn’t resist buying a few trinkets for gifts though.

One of the much talked about tourist attractions is Nga Phe Kyaung – otherwise known as the ‘Jumping Cat Monastery.’ Monks have trained their cats to jump through hoops and invite tourists to watch the show. As we sailed closer to the monastery we noticed the Buddhist chanting getting louder and louder. It wasn’t until we entered the monastery we realised we were actually attending a monks funeral! There were no jumping cats but the image of the embalmed monk in his coffin is one I’ll not forget.

Before sailing back to Nyaungshwe for sunset we cooled down with a quick dip in the lake. A refreshing end to my favourite day in Myanmar.