So from the day I arrived in Zambia I’ve been hearing about this amazing ceremony that takes place in the western province, one of Zambia’s biggest tourist pulling events – The Kuomboka Ceremony. Of course, I immediately put it down on my list of things I must do before I leave.
As Kuomboka drew near, there was much hype about it, with all the Lozis (natives of the western province) talking about the wonder that is Kuomboka. Plans were made, transport and accommodation was booked and money was doled out. Excitement grew amongst the curious ex-pats scattered around Zambia. The full moon came and there was an exodus of curious visitors to Mongu (capital city of the western province/Barotseland). Now information about this event is easily available on the internet, just google it! So I’m going to skip that bit and get to the point – tourist trap!
From the minute I mentioned to people that I was interested in making a trip to Mongu to witness this famed event, I had a multiplicity of offers made to me, special deals made just for me and ‘friends’ who wanted to help me get there. So, get there I did. But once in Mongu, I got this awful feeling I’d been had. The journey had been long (about 8 hours), and the 3 hour drive through Kafue National Park involved no maneuvering through herds of elephants or evading of lions as I had been told to expect. When we got to Mongu, there were no happy Lozis performing traditional dances on the streets. When we got to the palace the next morning there was again, no traditional dancing, just a 3 hour wait to see the king walk past us in all of 10 seconds; a 2 hour argument with the greedy, tourist conning boatman, only to find we were being taken back to the harbour and not alongside the royal barge for a better view as we’d hoped; another wait at the winter palace to watch the king get off the boat and walk to his palace only to have the wind knocked out of me by unruly men in an unruly crowd all the while breathing sand that rose up from the ground like thick fog behind stampeding feet.
Of course, the trip wasn’t all bad. The drop from the highland town of Mongu to the flood plains is dramatic and allows for views of absolutely stunning sunsets. The boat ride to the king’s summer palace – Lealui, is very pleasant and quite extraordinary as that vast area is completely dry ground for half the year and underwater for the rest (see picture 1 - its really hard to believe that this is all usually dry land). And we had a night of dancing to live local music which was an absolute blast!
Pictures:
1 - Flooded plain
2 - The King of the Lozis (In navy blue and gold uniform) and the President of the Republic of Zambia (smiling in the red hat)
3 - Giant Antique Drums
4 - Arriving at the winter palace
5 - Leaving from the summer palace
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