Hi Steemians,

Today we would like to share with you some of the most surprising things we found on our journeys. It really is one of my favourite moments when being on the road - encountering something that doesn’t make sense to you AT ALL!

The Sausage Tree

We took a dodgy looking boat onto a little island on Victoria lake. We were travelling from Kenya towards Uganda and decided to spend a night on this island close to Kisumo (Alessandro already shared with you a couple of impressions in the last post) . On the way to the island there were already hippos observing our boat suspiciously. I am aware that hippos can be very aggressive and already imagined what might happen if a hippo attacks our tent at night.
As we got off the boat and started wondering around on the green fields we found the strangest tree ever. It had monstrous sausage like things hanging down from long thin threads. I couldn’t believe that this was actually a natural phenomenon. It was definitely not eatable we thought. It seemed so hard and heavy.

One of the locals was very amused about our fascination with the tree. “It’s a sausage tree” he said: “You can cure the flew with this. Just make a tea out of the fruit and you will cure.”
The tree is actually called Kigela africana which comes from the Mozambican name for sausage tree, 'kigeli-keia' .

Another interesting thing I found out:

In Kenya, the Luo and Luhya people bury a fruit to symbolise the body of a lost person believed to be dead.

In case you’re wondering what happened to the HIPPO. The hippo came to visit us at night. I am pretty sure Ale we woke up due to its noisy farting. Well, that’s just what happens if you eat so much gras. He was very hesitant to wake me up to see it because he expected me to scream. I'm glad he decided to wake me up at the end.

---

Desert in Namibia

Another very unlikely event took place when I was travelling in Namibia. My friend Isabel and I had rented a car to cross the desert. Inexperienced as we were, we had a little Blue Corsa on which our live was hanging. After few kilometres after crossing the boarder from South Africa to Namibia we understood, that we are not well equipped for this trip.
But we were stubborn so we continued to drive north until the road becomes so bad that we travel at 5 km/h and eventually our petrol ran out. So there we were, stranded in the Namib Desert with half a litter of water and some dried apricots.
As I started to wonder down the road, I discovered this:

A rocky hill with my name on it: Mount Elena! This was really a huge coincidence. There were not many people passing by that street - that was also the reason why it took so long until somebody could help us - and how unlikely was it that I would strand right in front of this hill.
After few more minutes a trucker stopped and helped us out with a little bit of petrol and a bottle of water. This was the kick off to s fantastic journey and I will always remember my surprising encounter with Mount Elena.
I attach this shot for you that I found on the web in order to give you a feeling about the quality of the road. It was surely not the right street of an Opel Corsa.

Please share with me all the things you found on the road, that were just an incredible coincidence or you were simply unable to make sense of. I’m very curious to see which funny things you Steemians found on the road.

Have a fantastic day,
Elena & Ale

Upvote - if you would like us to write more.