Mud wrestling and tent pegging: Africa’s unusual sports

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 23 August 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We take a look at some of the more unusual sports practiced on the African continent. Kelvin Kimathi recently travelled to Uganda where a muddy version of entertainment wrestling is becoming increasingly popular. Marcia Veiga discovered Capoeira Angola whilst finding a way to connect with her own Angolan heritage. Eshlin Vedan met the only black teenager in South Africa competing in tent pegging- a cavalry sport of ancient origin.

Nitin Sultane reports for BBC Marathi and recently travelled to a village in Maharashtra where discarded fabric has been turned into paper for 700 years.

This episode of The Documentary comes to you from The Fifth Floor, the show at the heart of global storytelling, with BBC journalists from all around the world. This is an EcoAudio certified production.

(Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service.
0:07.8	This is the fifth floor.
0:12.0	The fifth floor, you knowsons.
0:15.6	This is the fifth floor at Farnak Amidi Sobath. This is the fifth floor at the heart of global storytelling with BBC journalists from all around the world.
0:28.9	I'm your host, Faranak Amidi.
0:36.7	When we think about sports associated with the African continent, we might think of running and athletics, or maybe football teams like the Nigerian Super Eagles.
0:49.9	But as well as these well-known offerings, the continent has many more rather unique sports.
0:57.3	So today, three of my colleagues who have recently been covering some of these less-known sports
1:03.2	are with me to tell me more.
1:05.8	Down the line in Nairobi, there is Kelvin Kitmani.
1:09.8	Ishlin Vidan is joining us all the way from Johannesburg
1:13.3	Bureau and Marcia Vega is here in the studio with me. Welcome to you all. Hello. Hello. Hi. How are you?
1:20.0	Hello. Hello. So I'm very excited about our sporty chat, but I'm going to ask all of you, actually, are you all
1:29.6	sporty? What kind of sports do you do? Marcia, I'm going to start with you. Absolutely not.
1:35.2	I thought you were going to say, absolutely, yes. I'm not. I think the most you'll get out of me is
1:40.2	probably a bit of yoga. What about you, Calvin? What are you into? I play basketball and badminton.
1:46.7	So I played basketball throughout high school.
1:49.4	Actually, I went to school through a basketball scholarship.
1:52.7	But I no longer play.
1:54.1	Nowadays, I just talk about it.
1:56.5	And watch it.
1:58.1	Okay.
	...

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