Kampala-Masaka: The sweet pain of using Sembabule route

You have an important family function to attend in Mbarara over the weekend and all preparations have been made; expensive dry cleaning, tire and oil change, concrete appointments to meet long-lost relatives, cancelled programs in the city, and so on. All manner of settings have already been calibrated for the coming trip.

Three days to the event, however, it is announced that the Kampala-Masaka highway has been breached. The bridge across River Katonga, en route to Masaka, has given way to a raging river due to the relentless rains. From the look of things prepared in vain. You are stuck.

Frantic phone calls start coming in. People are asking if you will still make it now that the road has been closed. Others ask if they should start looking for other means to get to Mbarara. You do not know what to tell them.

 Deep down you know there has to be a way around it. You are already too invested into the trip to change plans. Come hell or high water (literally in this case), you are willing to push through. Luckily, you soon hear that there is a perfectly motorable route between Mpigi and Sembabule. Fundamental problem out of the way.

This is exactly what happened to me in the wake of the Kampala-Masaka road damage almost two weeks ago. Having ascertained that there was a new route to Masaka other than the usual one, we set off westward from Kampala on Friday, May, 12th.

State of the road

At Mpigi, traffic police pointed us to the new, temporary route. The road turns off the highway into Mpigi town, giving many of us a chance to see this central Buganda town for the first time. Mpigi town is off grid for most travellers that use the Kampala – Mbarara route because the main highway passes outside it.

The distance between Mpigi and Masaka via this route is 181km compared to below 100km when one uses the normal route. The information is plastered on a board at the junction for all the motorists to see and reorganise their plans accordingly.

The road trip between Mpigi and Sembabule is simply pristine. It may be smaller and more winding and slower than the main highway and 100 kilometers longer than the usual route but a drive here is worth.

The speed bumps, while they are many on this road, are not designed to break the car like is the case on some other roads. This makes a workable motorway to a great extent. It is a perfect country road lined by farms and forests and great sceneries. The only problem is that there are many blind spots created by sharp hills that were left untouched by the road builders. These bell curves make driving through the hilly villages of Butambala and Maddu are a bit of a pain, but luckily, they soon give way for the plains of Kabulasoke, Kisozi and Sembabule.

Fertile villages

As soon as you go a few miles outside Mpigi town, you get to realise that the best of Buganda has been hiding here all along. It is safe to say that these villages of Central Buganda, the fertile hills and valleys and planes between Mpigi and Sembabule make up the most beautiful part of Buganda. Driving through this countryside reminded me of the first time I travelled to Fort Portal after many years of believing that Kigezi was the most beautiful part of this country.

I remember the shock of having never heard of how beautiful other parts of this country were and realizing that this place is truly more beautiful than home. Likewise, the villages in Butambala and Maddu and Kabulasoke all through to Sembabule are truly some of the most beautiful and fertile areas in the country.  We are blessed as a country because we have an abundance of arable land and great potential to produce food.

The  flatlands

After an hour of threading through the beautiful vegetable gardens and banana plantations, the crop farms start giving way for animal farms. The hills tapper off into a distance behind and savannah plains emerge in front of you.

The winding road straightens and the traffic starts moving a lot faster. Vast grasslands occupy both sides of the road, making one think they have crossed into another country all together. Dozens of sizeable herds of cattle populate these beautiful meadows as you pass through Kisozi all the way to Sembabule.

By the time you reach Sembabule town, you have been driving for close to three hours and yet you still have over 30 km to cover before re-joining the highway at Masaka. That can be disheartening, but then again, you were warned at the beginning of the journey.

By the time you get to Masaka, you have covered over 210km and you have overspent on fuel and time and energy. It is worth it. You know you have seen parts of this country that are truly beautiful, villages that you may never have seen had the main highway not been breached. 

Quick bit

The road trip between Mpigi and Sembabule is simply pristine. It may be smaller and more winding and slower than the main highway and 100 kilometers longer than the usual route but a drive here is worth. The speed bumps, while they are many on this road, are not designed to break the car like is the case on some other roads.