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Journal of African trips

Africa, spring 1999 part II

Agelasto
2004-05-21 18:00:16

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with the taxi driver. In our case everything is
negotiation.

Bush taxis come in many shapes and sizes, including flatbed trucks, goods vans, mini-vans,
utility vehicles, pick-ups, station wagons and sedans. About the only common
denominator seems to be that the riders are charged for the trip. Taxis sometimes have a
common paint scheme, but this usually applies to urban taxis, not their long-distance counterparts. Africans who are interested in setting up their own taxi service buy their
vehicles off expats who must sell their cars before they return home. Except in the capital
cities in West Africa there are no automobile showrooms or used car lots. All transactions
are private sales. If you see a car you like, you go up to the driver and ask how much. A
major source of taxis are the automobiles driven into Africa by European travelers, you
might call them backpackers with wheels. Many of these vehicles tend to be Peugeots,
cars which backpackers have beaten into submission on journeys down from Paris and
then sold to locals. I have talked with several Europeans who are doing this. Usually an
old Peugeot can be bought in France for about US $1,000, driven through the Sahara and
then sold in West Africa for US $6,000 or more.

So we all pile into the taxi, cycles on its roof. Alas, it doesn?t start. Non-functioning
electrical systems characterize bush taxies. These cars are 20 years old; the electrical
assemblage is one of their first systems to fail, given the harsh African heat, between the
few months of steady downpours. So it is not unusual to see a driver connect various
loose wires when he starts his vehicle. Some of the bush taxies I have taken, in fact, have
neither starter nor wires to connect. They must be pushed and started with a popping of
the clutch. The most skillful owners can start their vehicles pushing ...