Motorbikers heaven !

Every where you go, be it town or village, city or compound you will see a motorbike. Usually tens or hundreds of them. Everywhere. Why?

Well if you consider the state of the roads; pot holes ranging from 6 inches to 6 foot wide, 1 foot to 10 foot long and upto 2 feet deep in places you will understand.
Motorbikes can easily access places where cars can't.

Most of the people that live near the towns and in villages travel by public transport or motorbike.
The motorbikes are taxis called ocada

and they carry between 1 and 6 people - on ONE motorbike, that has been made for 2 people .... Now it's not unusual even in Britian to see youths zipping about without a crash helmet on. But here its unusual to see anyone on a motorbike WITH a crash helmet on.

To 'catch' the motorbike taxi you may stand on the main road and any passing motorbike taxi will stop if you put out your hand and flag them down. It doesn't matter if they have a passenger or three on already ... as long as you can fit on, then you have a ride for a small amount of money.

The other places to catch a ride are the local market places or anywhere thats busy. They don't have formal signs on their bikes, so your guess is as good as mine. I was told that you can tell a motorbike taxi-man (they are always men !! a woman wouldn't want to do that anyway ...) because they are dusty and wear old clothes !!

These clothes usually consist of a t-shirt, possibly a jacket

if it's night time or raining, a thin pair of trousers

or long shorts, and flip-flops (they call them slippers) !!!

Now I could be wrong, but I thought on a motorbike you were supposed to wear protective gear ... at the very least a crash helmet ? You'd think I was making a joke the way they laughed at me when I mentioned these few points....

Now don't think that families lose out, oh no. The ocadas will pick All of you up. Now if I could have, I would have .. but I didn't like to ask anyone if I could snap them and their family on a bike ... this ranged from a woman with a baby strapped to her back on the back of a bike to the whole family ..

This is what I have seen. Let's start at the front and work our way back ....

1st. 6 month old baby in front of the handlebars
2nd. the driver
3rd. another baby
4th. the mother
5th. another toddler (between 2 and 4 years of age)
6th. the father

That's not too bad considering I have seen coffins carried on motorbikes, large drums of oil, ladders, animals, desks, chairs, fridges, firewood in a big bundle 6 foot high and more, much more ...

There's only ONE RULE to riding on an ocada : - YOU MUST NEVER HOLD ON TO THE DRIVER .....

Oh My Goodness .... either you sit with your arms in your lap, at your side or holding your baggage, child, relative or onto the back of the motorbike !!

Older ladies and Nuns of a religious order MAY sit side saddle - that is perfectly acceptible and it is VERY advisable for women to wear 'long knickers' ! As to get on the bike you have to hoist everything up and straddle the saddle !!! Preserving dignity as best as possible ...

You may ask where are the 'law enforcement agencies' while all this is going on ... all I can say is that this practice is perfectly acceptable, if not legal, and if you are stopped a t a road block a small amount of money will allow you passage through without too much hassle .... to your intended destination.

And if you wonder why those most sensible of human beings - women of course - don't wear crash helmets ... because it messes up their hair ! I would like to see them doing their hair in fancy styles with no head !!