We all know that in the Olympics, members of African countries take back home a lot of medals. In fact, in a number of small, underdeveloped and economically fragile African countries, sports is itself the chief source of income. They look up to that one or two athletes who really make it big. Moreover, most of them are our favorite athletes as well. You can invest in their winnings right from the confines of your home with the help of sports betting. Check out Meta.reviews to get reviews of the best online betting sites and then select the one that suits you the most. However, Africa has some exciting traditional sports that none of us know about. Let us take a quick look at some of them.
Ngolo and Capoeira
It is a very popular sport that has both African and Brazilian descent and it is a really fun sport for it includes dance, music and martial arts together. In the 16th century, it originated in Brazil when the migrated slaves tried to adapt the tradtional martial artas of West Africa. This was called “ngolo” or “engolo” because they traced back to the culture of Angola. Both the traditions are characterized by the same sounds, moves and rhythmic patterns. In the garb of dance movements, there are powerful kicks in Capoeira. It was adopted when the Portuguese masters forbade their slaves to practose African customs, particularly martial arts.
Laamb
So, this is a special kind of wrestling that originated in Senegal. Therefore, it is also called Senegalese wrestling. It began almost a century ago. Originally, it was a means of recreation amongst farmers and fishermen after a hard day at work. However, today it has gone a long way. The best fighters can charge $100,000 per match now and it is only second to football in popularity.
Donkey Racing
It is an extremely popular sport in Lamu. Lamu is an island in Kenya that has absolutely no cars. This is an annual race where jockeys race donkeys that are previously trained in the absence of any saddle. It is a great sight of attraction for every year thousands of people come to see the race. This is a race that has been practiced here for centuries now and needs an unimaginable amount of skill on the part of the trainers as well as the jockeys.
Dambe boxing
It is exciting how so many of the popular sports today owe their origins to traditional African games. Similarly, Dambe boxing can be said to be the ancient rudiment of what we call boxing today. This was practiced by the Hausa people of northern Nigeria. They used to travel to different hamlets during the time of the harvest and then challenge people of the butcher class to a brawl. This would make the festivities very entertaining. However, the dominant arm of the fighters in this case is wrapped with rope that was dipped in resin and shards of glass. This violent part of the practice is now banned. In three rounds, the boxer has to strike the opponent with punches and kicks until he drops on the floor.
