Mozambique - Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi - page 511

Macomia
The small district capital of Macomia is the turn-off point for the beach at Pangane and
the end of the good tarmac if you're heading north.
Pensão-Residencial Caminho do Norte (r Mtc400) , on the main road just north of the
junction, has no-frills rooms. Bar Chung (at the junction) has a few very basic rooms in
the family compound to rent (rates are cheap and negotiable), and can help with meals.
Several vehicles daily go to Mucojo (Mtc70) along a rough road, sometimes continuing
on to Pangane. Hitching is possible but very slow. If you're stranded, a good place to ask
for a lift is at Bar Chung, at Macomia's main intersection.
To continue southward to Pemba (Mtc170, two hours), buses from Moçimboa da Praia
and Mueda pass Macomia from about 9am. Going northwards, you'll often need to wait
until around 9am or 10am for a vehicle to pass through.
MAPIKO DANCING
If you hear drumming in the late afternoons while travelling around Cabo Delgado, it's likely mapiko , the famed
masked dancing of the Makonde.
The dancer (always a man) wears a special wooden lipiko (mask; plural: mapiko ), decorated with exaggerated
features, hair (often real) and facial etchings. After being carved, the masks are kept in the bush in a special place
known as the mpolo, where only men are permitted to enter. Traditionally, they cannot be viewed by women or by
uncircumcised boys unless they are being worn by a dancer.
Before mapiko begins, the dancer's body is completely covered with large pieces of cloth wrapped around the
legs, arms and body so that nothing can be seen other than the fingers and toes. All evidence that there is a person
inside is supposed to remain hidden. The idea is that the dancer represents the spirit of a dead person who has
come to do harm to the women and children, from which only the men of the village can protect them. While boys
learn the secret of the dance during their initiation rites, women are never supposed to discover it and remain in
fear of the mapiko . ( Mapiko supposedly grew out of male attempts to limit the power of women in matrilineal
Makonde society.)
Once the dancer is ready, distinctive rhythms are beaten on special mapiko drums. The dance is usually per-
formed on weekend afternoons, and must be finished by sunset. The best places to see mapiko dancing are in and
around Mueda and in Macomia.