Strange Sites Cycling Africa

We saw some crazy things when we were in Africa.  What do you expect when you are cycling through some of the most remote regions on the planet.

Here is a list of what we found to be some of the most surreal, strange and odd sites in Africa.

1. Dead Camel Highway

We don’t know why there were so many dead camels on the side of the road.  we had heard a few different stories. One was that a caravan had gone through months earlier and some camels just didn’t make it. Another story was that the villagers from a nearby town brought their dead camels here instead of burying them. We are not sure what the story is, but it made a very interesting photograph.

2. Airplane Graveyard

We stumbled upon several abandoned airplanes off of the highway in the Sudan.  There weren’t any billboards or signs stating why these planes were sitting in the middle of the desert, or why they were left there.  But it was pretty cool to be able to go inside the planes and explore the cockpit.

3. Abandoned WWI Cemetery

In Namibia we pulled off to camp at an abandoned railway station.  That wasn’t very strange as many railway stations are abandoned nowadays.  What was odd was the immaculate WWI Memorial that was right next door to it.  It was surrounded by tumbleweeds, shrubs and weeds, but the graves were perfectly groomed.  Somebody obviously comes by regularly to take care of it.

4. Installation Art

In Namibia we camped at yet another strange campground.  Pulling off of the side of the road onto the abandoned lane way when you were cycling all alone was a little bit creepy. Several of these odd statues were placed around the grounds depicting little scenes.  We felt better once we saw other people, but at first we thought we were entering some kind of horror film.

5. Random Things on the Highway

As we cycled down the continent, we would find some very strange and random objects on the side of the road. In South Africa Dave found a bone the size of Fred Flintstone’s dinner and in Ethiopia I enjoyed playing with some horse tails to swat the flies away.

5.Everything on the Road Except Vehicles

Africa has a lot of roads being built and paved.  Some are simply beautiful smooth, black tarmac. The funny thing is that there never seems to be any vehicles on the roads.  We saw cows, goats, donkeys, people and a lot of rocks but other than the 60 cyclists that were riding through each day, we didn’t see a lot of traffic. So really, why are they paving all of these highways in Africa? I guess we will see the answer in about 10 years.