Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
KUOMBOKA CEREMONY
The Kuomboka (literally, 'to move to dry ground') is probably one of the last great Southern African ceremonies.
It is celebrated by the Lozi people of western Zambia, and marks the ceremonial journey of the
litunga
(the Lozi
king) from his dry-season palace at Lealui, near Mongu, to his wet-season palace on higher ground at Limulunga.
It usually takes place in late March or early April, and sometimes ties in with Easter. The dates are not fixed,
however; they're dependent on the rains. In fact, the Kuomboka does not happen every year and is not infre-
quently cancelled because of insuficient flood waters; the 2012 ceremony was called off because it's against Lozi
tradition to hold the Kuombaka under a full moon.
In 1933, a palace was built by Litunga Yeta III on permanently dry ground at the edge of the plain at a place
called Limulunga. Although the Kuomboka was already a long-standing tradition, it was Yeta III who first made
the move from Lealui to Limulunga a major ceremony.
Central to the ceremony is the royal barge, the
nalikwanda,
a huge wooden canoe, painted with black-and-white
stripes, that carries the
litunga
. It is considered a great honour to be one of the hundred or so paddlers on the
na-
likwanda,
and each paddler wears a head-dress of a scarlet beret with a piece of a lion's mane and a knee-length
skirt of animal skins. Drums also play a leading role in the ceremony. The most important are the three royal war
drums,
kanaona, munanga
and
mundili,
each more than one-metre wide and said to be at least 170 years old.
The journey from Lealui to Limulunga takes about six hours. The
litunga
begins the day in traditional dress, but
during the journey changes into the full uniform of a British admiral, complete with regalia and ostrich-plumed
hat. The uniform was presented to the
litunga
in 1902 by the British King, Edward VII, in recognition of the treat-
ies signed between the Lozi and Queen Victoria.
Visiting the Palaces
The village of
Limulunga
is 15km north of Mongu. Here, you can see the palace of the
li-
tunga
(the king of the Lozi). It's a large traditional house occupied by the
litunga
from
around April to June when his main residence at Lealui is flooded. You cannot go inside,
and photos are not allowed. Of more interest is the
Nayuma Museum
(admission ZMW5;
8am-5pm daily)
, with its colony of bats in the roof, and exhibits about the Lozi,
li-
tunga
and Kuomboka including a large model of the
nalikwanda
boat used in the cere-
mony. There are also some fascinating shots of royal pageantry, Zambian-style, in a black-
and-white photo exhibition titled, 'A Retrospective in the Forties' by Max Gluckman.
Otherwise, various artefacts and cultural exhibits including a potted history of snuffing are
pretty old and dusty, but there are some interesting pictures of the historical line of the
Lozi
litungas
. Minibuses run between Mongu and Limulunga throughout the day.
The village of
Lealui
, on the flood plain 15km northwest of Mongu, is the site of the
litunga's
main palace; he lives here for most of the year (July to March), when the waters
are low. The palace is a large single-storey Lozi house, built with traditional materials
(wood, reeds, mud and thatch) and meticulously maintained. Around the palace are smal-
