Because the solar slipped in direction of the sting of the Barotse Floodplain, every thing started to glow within the dying gentle: the blushing lilies that bloomed in drifts throughout the watery expanse; the birds of their shimmering plumage; the scarlet caps worn by the Lozi individuals as they punted their method by means of the quivering papyrus.
It was April, and I’d travelled to western Zambia on the tail-end of the moist season when the Zambezi, Kabompo and Lungwebungu rivers spill throughout the panorama and switch the bottom right into a mirror of the sky. Zambia’s Lozi — an id fashioned of 25 to 40 ethnic teams introduced collectively within the nineteenth century — name their ancestral territory “Barotseland”, or “Bulozi” within the native language.
In trendy political nomenclature, it’s often known as Zambia’s Western Province. The area can be residence to Liuwa Plain Nationwide Park, a protected space forming a 1,300sq mile swath of wetland habitat that runs up in direction of the border with Angola.
I’d come for the Kuomboka, which implies “to get out of the water”. A celebration of the annual flood and annual motion of cattle and different livestock it necessitates, this April ritual marks the switch of the litunga (the normal title of the Lozi king) from his palace at Lealui to his second residence, which sits on increased floor a day’s paddle away at Limulunga. (The reverse journey is marked by a smaller ceremony in August.) The royal family travels in a flotilla of flamboyant barges throughout the floodplain. The king’s boat, or Nalikwanda, is topped with an enormous fabric elephant, the queen’s barge with a gray topped crane.
The dates of the Kuomboka are historically decided at brief discover, in accordance with water ranges and phases of the moon. As of late, excessive local weather swings may complicate the timing. In 2019, the Kuomboka was cancelled due to drought, and in 2023, due to the demise of a senior Lozi chief. The truth that it’s not at all times assured solely provides to the thrill across the occasion, and this yr additionally marked Lubosi Imwiko II’s silver jubilee — 25 years since his coronation because the litunga.
With information of a confirmed date, I made a last-minute sprint from London, adopted by a 10-hour drive west from Lusaka airport alongside Zambia’s arrow-straight M9 freeway. After a pit-stop at a gasoline station bustling with festival-goers, I finished for a second time at Mongu, western Zambia’s provincial capital, for fried rooster and chips. A celebration ambiance prevailed: girls in satin misisi attire and matching blouses, youngsters with dripping ice lotions, males in purple mashushu berets. Each resort on the town was full.
I used to be booked into Liuwa Camp, an eight-tent lodge, new final yr, situated a two-hour drive from Mongu, inside Liuwa Plain Nationwide Park. Given the excessive waters, it turned out to be the one park lodging open this yr for the Kuomboka (typically decrease flood ranges imply that the park’s campsites and different lodges can open as early as March).
As an alternative of going straight to the camp, I made a beeline for the opening drum ceremony at Lealui, about 10 miles from Mongu. I drew up beside the palace, which from the surface appeared a comparatively humble single-storey constructing — the oldest half dates from 1886, the newest from 1910 — fronted by a sandy clearing.
To adjust to protocol, I wrapped myself in a sitenge, or tie-around skirt, and headed for a bonfire below a line of palms. Because the embers crackled and spat, males wound strips of softened bark round paddles minimize from blonde wooden, which they then charred over the hearth. As soon as the uncovered wooden had blackened, they uncurled the twists of bark to disclose a black-and-white stripe down every paddle’s size. There have been some 300 of them to get by means of, which might be used on the royal barges in the primary procession.
The dialog hummed. The younger knelt to greet their elders with three handclaps. I received speaking with Munalula Lisimba, an induna or king’s adviser and a retired supreme courtroom decide in Lusaka. A member of the royal household by marriage, he mentioned he was glad I’d come from distant: “We really feel properly recognised.” He defined how the Kuomboka had financial potential, as a method of driving tourism. “This yr, we gave 30 days’ discover for the competition, which is best for international guests. However earlier than? No discover can be given.”
Within the gathering crowd, I received speaking to a person sporting a pale shirt and brightly printed siziba (not in contrast to an extended kilt) that fell to his shins. He launched himself as Prince Notulu Akashambatwa Yeta, a nephew of the present litunga. We talked concerning the uniform the king can be sporting for the primary pageant, and the way the unique model — gold-braided epaulettes, a plumed hat — had been gifted to King Lubosi Lewanika by the British to put on at Edward VII’s 1902 coronation.
As of late, Yeta instructed me, new uniforms in an identical design had been made for every new litunga. I requested if the outfit’s colonial type raised any unfavorable emotions concerning the nation’s historical past. Yeta shook his head. “We just like the British royal household,” he mentioned. “[The Lozi] don’t see a monarchy as colonial however as a conventional construction.”
As if on cue, a cavalcade arrived, flanked by safety in black uniforms inscribed with the royal elephant insignia. Everybody knelt. When the litunga took a seat in entrance of the palace, he was flanked by males wearing white — the grave-keepers, or li ng’omboti, tasked with taking care of the burial websites of previous kings. The group squeezed in tighter, however solely males had been allowed shut, and a number of the litunga’s feminine members of the family. Extra guests arrived. The ingesting picked up tempo. It wasn’t till after 9pm that the drumming began, on devices that dated again to King Lewanika’s reign, by which period I’d lastly peeled off for the drive to camp. I used to be craving sleep.
The water ranges turned out to be increased than park workers had warned — a actuality that will flip each journey I made to and from the competition web site right into a sort of Prime Gear battle between mud, flood and our 4×4. After a 20-hour day, the sinkings and the spinning wheels had been punishing. At 11pm, we received caught. However as we waited for the park tractor to return and pull us out, I additionally had an opportunity to soak up the place I used to be.
The syrupy darkness, pricked with stars. A plain filled with animals I sensed however couldn’t see. Hooting hen calls that rolled hauntingly throughout the watery vacancy. “To different individuals, the flood is a disaster, however to Lozi individuals, the flood is a blessing,” mentioned Sepo Mubonda, our Lozi driver and senior information at Liuwa Camp. Sure, a bloody disaster, I believed, as we waited for information of our tractor rescue to return down the radio. After which Mubonda started to speak.
“The Lozi maintain land in excessive regard,” he mentioned; “the title ‘litunga’ means ‘guardian of the land’. To us, ‘land’ means sand, birds, fish, minerals.” Mubonda defined how Lozi tradition is totally built-in with the pure world, and the way their litunga was answerable for upholding a collection of customs pre-dating trendy conservation legal guidelines, together with guidelines about searching (nobody is allowed to the touch an eland), and taboos round fishing sure pans to guard breeding inventory.
Mubonda’s tales unravelled the complicated cultural threads that sew the area collectively, together with how younger individuals advocated change to the normal garb worn on the Kuomboka. Cheetah skins donned by the king’s paddlers have been swapped for artificial alternate options. The Lozi put on plastic bracelets as a substitute of ivory bangles. Moderately than slaughtering a hippo for the pre-Kuomboka feast, they now kill a cow.
It was conversations like these that turned the journeys to and from camp into a really totally different sort of African journey. The next day, I watched the subsequent occasion within the competition line-up; a regatta from Lealui to Mongu utilizing picket mikolo, or canoes, piloted by groups of males or girls who paddled standing up. Among the many spectators, I met a royal drummer; for generations he mentioned his forbearers had the identical position, utilizing music to inform Lozi historical past. “There are songs that depict when the colonisation happened. Dances which signify victory. Drums which communicate of glorification. Music tells our Lozi story — the previous, current and the longer term,” royal adviser Lishandu Maswabi later defined to me.
On the third day — the height of the celebrations when the litunga would make his ceremonial journey — we set off from camp earlier than daybreak. At Lealui, drones buzzed overhead. A helicopter arrived. There have been SUVs with blackened home windows — visiting bigwigs, together with politicians and international ambassadors. Automobiles had been rammed nose-to-tail on the one slick of tarmacked highway working between Mongu and Lealui.
“It’s a wonderful day. We come collectively, dance, share meals and have fun. We really feel a part of one thing greater,” mentioned one of many girls I’d squeezed in subsequent to on the riverbank. “It’s like Christmas,” mentioned one other.
After which a glimpse of the litunga arriving on the seashore. The group cheered as we watched him board and take his seat below the fabric elephant. The paddling started — 60 Lozi males utilizing the striped oars. The queen’s barge adopted, the fabric wings of the crane flapping gently. Then the riverbank emptied out as locals scrambled into canoes — some boats with oars, others with outboard motors. I additionally took to the water, on a vessel Liuwa Camp had supplied for its friends.
For 4 hours we adopted the flotilla, which quickly expanded to round 100 vessels. Music blared. Boats bumped. Kids ran alongside the sting of the flood. We fought with reeds that choked our propellers. Underneath a stunning blue sky, the lilies opened up, and the herons regarded on.
Within the thick of the Kuomboka, I may really feel the depth of the ritual’s symbolic objective: the pomp and ceremony asserting a novel id. I used to be additionally conscious of its alluring potential to attract extra individuals to this far-off place. However I additionally couldn’t assist surprise if higher footfall would possibly destroy the occasion’s cultural integrity? To recommend that, Mubonda instructed me, can be an offence to the Lozi individuals, who regard their traditions as indestructible.
Particulars
Sophy Roberts stayed as a visitor of Liuwa Camp, which prices $540 per individual per evening together with full board, a driver-guide and two actions per day, in addition to transfers to and from the Kuomboka ceremony and a ship within the flotilla. Park charges add $40 per individual per evening.
Kwale neighborhood camp, additionally situated inside Liuwa Plain Nationwide Park, provides self-catering chalets from $140 per individual per evening; lodging at each camps will be booked for the Kuomboka at visitliuwa.org; dates for 2026 can be revealed a month earlier than the ceremony.
Discover out about our newest tales first — comply with FT Weekend on Instagram, Bluesky and X, and sign up to obtain the FT Weekend e-newsletter each Saturday morning
