The Bodi tribe of southern Ethiopia holds a yearly festival in which the man with the biggest belly is honored and celebrated. To prepare for this big event, the men go on a grueling six-month fattening journey. Obesity and big bellies are usually seen as banes of modern life that not only have a negative impact on health, but are also considered generally inesthetic. However, in a remote area of Omo Valley, southern Ethiopia, big bellies in men are considered impressive, even attractive. The Bodi, a tribe of agriculturists and cattle herders, celebrate their love of big bellies during a yearly festival called Ka’el, in which the man with the biggest belly is crowned ‘fat man of the year’ and earns the respect of the entire tribe for life. But in order to earn this honor, the men must go on a fattening diet of cow’s milk or yogurt, raw blood, and honey for several months before the festival. Read More »

A pastor in Mozambique, south-eastern Africa, recently passed away after suffering digestive organ failure attempting to emulate Jesus Christ’s 40-day fast. It’s unclear why exactly 39-year-old Francisco Barajah, the founder of the Santa Trindade Evangelical Church, decided to imitate Christ’s 40-day fast in the desert as described in the Gospel of Matthew, but one thing is for sure – it was a fatal decision. 25 days into the grueling fast – no food or water – Barajah had become so weak that he couldn’t even stand, let alone move around or perform any menial tasks. Still, he insisted on going through with the Biblical fast, and by the time his family and followers finally decided to take him to a hospital, it was too late. Read More »

Nigerian artist Alex Peter Idoko uses fire, razorblades and sandpaper to create stunningly-realistic portraits that look more like sepia-toned photos. Pyrography, or painting with fire, is an intriguing art form that involves the decoration of a wooden canvas with burn marks resulting from a controlled flame or heated instrument, like a poker. It’s a less forgiving art than traditional painting, as mistakes are much harder to fix or hide due to the destructive nature of fire. However, some artists control the unusual medium so well that they can create photo-quality artworks that are almost indistinguishable to the naked eye. Read More »

Mzee Musa Hasahya, a 67-year-old Ugandan farmer, is one of the most prolific polygamists in history, with 12 wives, 102 children, and a whopping 568 grandchildren to his name. Even by the standards of his home village of Lusaka, where polygamy is legal, Mzee Musa Hasahya’s family is considered gigantic. Despite growing up in abject poverty, he managed to rise above his condition, accumulating enough wealth and prestige to be appointed village chairperson for several decades and to ensure that whenever he approached a family about marrying their daughter, they always agreed. Hasahya married his first wife in 1971, at age 16, and then kept taking new wives until he reached 12. Because his father only produced two children, which threatened to render his clan extinct, the Ugandan farmer took it upon himself to ensure that his bloodline endured, producing over 100 children. Read More »

A South African pastor recently sparked controversy online after it was revealed that he was charging people serious money for real-life miracles, like seeing God in heaven. If you’ve always wanted to see your maker without actually ending your mortal life, MS Budeli, one of the many shady pastors in Africa, claims he can help, if you can pay his fee, of course. According to a promotional poster that has been doing the rounds on social media, Pastor MS Budeli has the power to help people see their future in their smartphones, cancel all their financial debt and even see God. All people have to do is show up for his “Worship Conference” and pay the special prayer fees. Read More »

A 40-year-old man has been dubbed ‘South Africa’s dumbest criminal’ after walking into a police station to get a job there despite being on a wanted criminal list. Thomas Ngcobo had been on the run for the last seven years, after stealing hardware products worth more than $1,200 while working as a delivery man in 2015. He reportedly diverted deliveries to other addresses without the owner’s consent or knowledge, and went on the run as soon as his manager realized that some invoices were missing and several products had been delivered to the wrong addresses. Ngcobo’s name was added to the police’s wanted criminal list as soon as his employer filed a complaint against him, but he managed to avoid capture for seven years. And then he walked right into a police station like he didn’t even have a criminal record… Read More »

The Ladoum sheep, known as the “king of sheep” in Senegal, is considered a mark of prestige and a status symbol in the African country, with prices for top specimens exceeding $85,000. A hybrid of the Mauritanian ‘Touabire’ breed and the Malian ‘Bali-bali’, the Ladoum was first bred outside Senegal’s capital of Dakar in the early 1970s. For such a young breed, the Ladoum is incredibly popular in the West-African nation, with well-off families and breeders spending small fortunes on a specimen, and those who can’t afford one dreaming of one day having enough money to buy it. To understand just how revered the Ladoum is, in a country where about 40 percent of the population lives on $1.90 per day, some people spend tens of thousands of dollars on a single sheep. Read More »

To most of the world, the red-billed quelea is a cute, sparrow-like bird native to Sub-Saharan Africa, but to the farmers of the regions that this little creature calls home, it is a pest capable of wiping out their crops. Biblical plagues mention insects like locusts, lice and flies, but to the people of African countries like  Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, birds – one species in particular – are more dangerous than any of them. There is a very good reason why the red-billed quelea is popularly known as Africa’s feathered locust. This small, adorable bird eats about four grams of plant seeds per day, which doesn’t sound like much, but when you consider that it feeds in flocks of millions of individuals, the math starts to get pretty scary for farmers and those who depend on their crops. Read More »

A Ugandan man allegedly packed his bags and left his growing family after his wife recently gave birth to their fifth pair of twins. While some people would give anything to have one child, let alone two, others have no problem abandoning their offspring. Case in point, a Ugandan man who couldn’t cope with the fact that his wife recently gave birth to their fifth set of twins. Nalongo Gloria never underwent IVF treatments to get pregnant, yet she can’t stop having twins. The Ugandan woman recently brought her ninth and tenth children into this world, which reportedly made her husband, Ssalongo pack up his things and leave, saying that “it wasn’t normal” and that he couldn’t take care of her and their children anymore. Read More »

Police in Nigeria recently released 77 people, including young children, from the basement of a church where they had been waiting for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ for several months. The raid on the Whole Bible Believers Church in the Valentino area of Ondo Town came after a local mother approached police about the disappearance of her kids and told them that she suspected they had gone to the church. When they entered the place of worship, policemen found 77 people being kept in the basement by the Pastor and his deputy, who had told them that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Authorities claim that the church encouraged people to “stay behind” and wait for the Rapture, and some of them are believed to have lived in the church for several months. Read More »

Authorities in the African country of Sudan have allegedly sentenced a ram to three years in prison for hitting and killing an old woman. If humans had to go to prison every time they killed a goat, we would have to build so many more prisons, but when the roles are reversed for a change the poor animal has to answer for its actions. That’s exactly what allegedly happened in Sudan earlier this month – at least according to multiple national news outlets – after a ram in Rumbek East County charged at an elderly woman hitting her in the ribs and causing serious injuries that later proved fatal. It’s unclear what possessed the animal to attack, but once it was identified as the culprit, the ram was taken into custody and sentenced to hard time. Read More »

Three Kenyan sisters who happen to be identical triplets are reportedly dating and planning to marry the same man, one Bigman Stevo, who claims that having three partners is no big deal. Cate, Eve and Mary, three sisters known as “Comrades Triplets” in Kenya, have been making news headlines in their native country over the last couple of weeks, ever since it was first revealed that they are all dating the same man. Cate was the first to notice Stevo, and she later told her two sisters about him. They approached him and asked if he would be willing to date all three of them, and they’ve been together for a couple of weeks now. It was the Comrades Triplets who devised a dating schedule to keep everyone happy, and Stevo has so far been happy to oblige.

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A Zimbabwean man spent several months in the hospital recovering from a vicious attack by no less than three or four crocodiles at a fishing pond near the town of Nyamhunga. The incident took place in January, as Alexander Chimedza arrived at the Nyamhunga sewer ponds to look for some red worms. He planned to use them as bait to catch Kariba bream, after his wife told him that she had had enough of the tigerfish that he usually brought home. Unfortunately, as soon as he approached the weed-covered banks of the pond, Alexander was attacked. He claims one crocodile tried to grab his left hand, but he instinctively pulled it away, before another crocodile managed to bite his right hand. Read More »

A Congolese man recently shocked the world by marrying three identical triplets who decided to share the same man in order to stay together, instead of becoming separated. A 32-year-old Congolese man identified only as Luwizo recently married sisters Natasha, Natalie and Nadege, identical triplets, in a colorful wedding ceremony that made international headlines. After originally meeting Natalie on social media and becoming in love with her, Luwizo was reportedly deceived by her other two sisters into thinking that he was meeting his girlfriend. He allegedly couldn’t tell the identical triplets apart, and they eventually all fell in love with him. When they finally revealed that there were three of them and they all wanted to marry him, he just couldn’t refuse. Read More »

Three African men were recently arrested in Algeria for allegedly disguising themselves as Arab women in order to reach the wealthy country of Dubai. In a scene reminiscent of the cult comedy film “White Chicks”, three black with half their faces covered in thick makeup foundation can be seen posing for mug shots in Algeria. The sad-looking trio were reportedly apprehended in Algeria, after officials noticed that they were not who they claimed to be – Arab women wearing traditional clothing, including niqab face covers. They had gone through the trouble of covering the exposed parts of their faces with a thick layer of foundation and used black eyeliner to increase their chances of passing off as women, but it wasn’t enough. Read More »