Boda Boda Rides in Kisumu

In Kisumu, George and I walked up to the market area and caught boda bodas. After a bit of a quibble about price we settled on the boda boda seats and rode out into the countryside on well paved roads past large estates, and then on a red road past smaller houses, scattering goats, chickens, and children. We sailed past a game park of sorts where they kept ostriches.

Finally we turned onto an even smaller red road with larger ruts and ridges and came to the lake. A main building housed the bar, dining room, toilets and a pool table, and the spacious grounds were dotted with round cement bandas with straw roofs. We sat down in one and ordered drinks … a soda for George; a beer for me.

George told me about Luhya traditional music and about some of the strange customs of different parts of the country, still practised by strong traditionalists. One of them involved the death of a wife … the husband was/is expected to spend the night with the corpse paying it his last respects … sexually. That is a custom still practised in the rural areas around Kisumu by members of the Luo tribe. In another province men and women strip naked after dark and run … they are called night runners … and they often defecate at the doorways of villagers … ones they dislike, I guess.

George and I took our time eating and talking and then headed out to the red road to find boda bodas. The trip back to Kisumu cost ten shillings less but was rather more eventful than the trip to the lake. At one point we were chased by a pig and were nearly overturned. I've been chased by dogs but never by a pig … and a pig can give quite a large shove to a bicycle!