Tonga fishing village on Lake Kariba

Fishing Village on Lake Kariba… On Safari 20

/ Curt Mekemson / 24 Comments
Children anxiously awaited our arrival at the tribe fishing village we visited on Lake Kariba. Which one was trouble? Grin

When the Zambezi River was flooded in the 60s to create Lake Kariba, several villages of Tonga people were flooded— without compensation. Some of them were later granted limited fishing concessions on the lake. Our guide was eager for us to meet Africans as well as wildlife and arranged a tour of one village located on an island. I found the people and village life quite similar to what I had experienced as a young Peace Corp Volunteer in West Africa 50 years earlier. Following are some of the photos that Peggy and I took.

Life continued as usual in the village during our visit. The bathtub.
The dish washer.
And dish dryer.
Child safety seat. How much safer could one be?
Transportation system.
Mainstreet.
Housing construction varied. This one was was made of round mud bricks.
The construction process. We watched as bricks were added.
A different technique.
Both methods would eventually be finished off with this solid clay covering, which I assume withstood rain.
Roofing materials varied as well. This was a traditional covering. The reeds were purchased from a nearby town and brought in by boat.
Modern tarps of various kinds were more common.
This came as a surprise. You may have noticed it on our ‘Main Street’ photo. A solar panel makes lots of sense.
Roof decoration? It’s possible that this hippo jaw was present to scare away evil spirits.
A more modern store featuring the latest in sugar-free drinks! “Same great taste.” Even in 1965, the then small town of Gbarnga, Liberia where I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer had a Coke billboard. And one for Guinness.
The chief of the village (blue shirt and leaning on post) took us on a tour where cooking, house building and fish net mending were demonstrated. The man in the cap talking is the captain of the houseboat we lived on while exploring Lake Kariba. This demonstration was how the Tonga cooked fish.
Mmm, mmm, good! Since fishing was the primary source of income for the villagers, fish were also their primary source of food.
The village’s fishing boat fleet.
Mending fishing nets was an ongoing, daily process.
Fish caught for sale were salted and dried.
Close up.
A different drying rack.
Fish filet! Yum.
After a steady fish diet, eggs might make a welcome substitute. Or chicken?
How about duck?
Peggy taught one of the children to make the Peace sign. The kids were an absolute delight.
How did she do that?
And here Peggy was teaching them the ‘A wuni kuni ki yo oonie’ song and clapping game. Everyone of our grandchildren, nieces and nephews will immediately recognize this. Peggy, a retired and well-loved elementary school principal, had a large group of the children with her wherever she went in the village.
I’ll close today with a photo of two of the children who had adopted John. He skipped up to the village with them!

Peggy and I are on the road again. Tomorrow we start our journey west where we will be taking three months to travel up the West Coast from Big Sur to Olympia National Park camping out in our travel trailer as we go. I will blog about the trip as we go! Hopefully, I’ll be able to wrap up Africa and the Everglades on our two week drive across the US. I’ll continue to read blogs and respond to comments as time allows.