Tikondane Cultural Tourism Program, Katete, Zambia

Katete is a town in Eastern Zambia some six/seven hours drive from Lusaka and less than two hours from Chipata on the border with Malawi. First and foremost it is a community center where adult education classes and skills training are offered. During my visit, pig farming classes were being held to a full class of local women. There is also a day care and primary school staffed by young European volunteers, as well as a simple guesthouse and restaurant that might interest any visitor to Zambia looking to stay for a few days and experience a more in depth look at the country.

What also might interest the traveler is Tikondane's cultural tourism program which allows them a trip by ox cart into a Chewa village, the predominant people of Eastern Zambia, where, after an excellent dinner cooked by a local family and eaten by candlelight, they are invited to a performance of Chewa dancing. The only other opportunity to catch Chewa dancing is if you attended the large Chewa festival of Kulamba, typically held the last weekend of August and which attracts Chewa people from three nations, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. The focus of this ceremony is threefold – to give thanks; to pay homage to the Chewa paramount chief, and to showcase Chewa performers. However, rarely are festival dates for any Zambian festival made far enough in advance for tourists to include in their programs. Or they are changed at the very last minute if a VIP can't attend. I can personally attest to the problem of attending the Kulamba. I arrived at last year's event to find that it was postponed by one week to accommodate the Zambian President's schedule. Tikondane therefore has come up with a good solution – performances on demand by the dancers in their own village.

Collectively all the Chewa dances are known as nyau. The Gule Wamkulu or "Big Dance", performed by men, is the most revered. Said to involve witchcraft, the dance is only open to members of a secret society. The costumes and masks disguise the identities of the dancers and the supernatural character that the dancers become can be either good or bad. The Kulamba ceremony also marks the initiation of young Chewa girls into womanhood. What young girls must learn about adulthood and marriage is taught and expressed through special dances. When you visit the Chewa village arranged by Tikondane you are invited into the women's hut to observe and partake in their dances, but only if you are a woman too. Any men visitors must wait by the cooking fires for the Gule Wamkulu which follows.

Watch for the video on Katete's Cutural Tourism Program on the website.

10-03-2010