Lake Kashiba
Encyclopedia
Lake Kashiba is situated south-west of Luanshya
in Zambia
, close to Mpongwe
and St Anthony's Mission.
district called "the sunken lakes." They are found in limestone
and were caused by the action of water on the rock, dissolving it and forming caves which eventually collapsed, leaving deep holes filled with water. Kashiba is the most impressive and means "small lake." It is about 3.5 hectares (8.6 acre) in area and about 100 metres (328.1 ft) deep. The water level is about 10 metres (32.8 ft) below the surrounding forest, and through the clear blue water, fish are easy to see, mostly bream, with some carp
.
called “Ichitapa” or “lsoka lkulu.” When a man stands on the rocks at the lake’s edge, with his shadow over the water, the monster comes up from the depths and catches the shadow, so that the victim becomes paralysed and falls in the water.
But the best known of the legends of Kashiba goes back to the earliest history of the Lamba people, to Kabunda, son of Chipimpi, the chief who came from the west with seeds to plant the first gardens for the people. One day, when Chipimpi's people had finished plastering a grain store, he gave them all porridge to eat, but to Kabunda and his nephew he gave a goat so that they might wash off the mud with the goat's blood. But Kabunda demanded the blood of a man, and Kapimpi gave him a slave to kill. Kabunda killed the slave with his hoe, saying: "Now we are the people of the Hair Clan, for we have killed a man with hair on his head. But you, my father and my cousin, are people of the Goat Clan:' And Kabunda slew Chipimpi and became chief.
In time, Kabunda began to ill-treat the younger relatives of Chipimpi, members of the Goat Clan, and they became angry, saying they were of the chief's clan and should not be treated thus. "Let us now kill ourselves! Let us see what will remain! Kabunda can remain, and the kingdom can be his!" So they all went to Kashiba, where they took all their goods and chattels, goats and chickens and dogs, and tied themselves together with a long rope and threw themselves into the lake. But a member of the Leopard Clan was at the end of the rope, and at the last moment, he cut it in front of his wife and carried her back to the village, where she became the mother of all the Goat Clan.
Luanshya
Luanshya is a town in Zambia, in the Copperbelt Province near Ndola. It has a population of 117,579 .Luanshya was founded in the early part of the 20th century after a prospector/explorer, William Collier, shot and killed a Roan Antelope on the banks of the Luanshya River, discovering a copper...
in Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
, close to Mpongwe
Mpongwe
The Mpongwe are an ethnic group in Gabon, notable as the earliest known dwellers around the Estuary, where Libreville is now located.The Mpongwe language identifies them as a subgroup of the Myènè people of the Bantus, who are believed to have been in the area for some 2,000 years, although the...
and St Anthony's Mission.
Hydrography
Lake Kashiba is the best known of the several small, very deep pools in the NdolaNdola
Ndola is the third largest city in Zambia, with a population of 495,000 . It is the industrial, commercial, on the Copperbelt, Zambia's copper-mining region, and capital of Copperbelt Province. It is also the commercial capital city of Zambia and has one of the three international airports, others...
district called "the sunken lakes." They are found in limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
and were caused by the action of water on the rock, dissolving it and forming caves which eventually collapsed, leaving deep holes filled with water. Kashiba is the most impressive and means "small lake." It is about 3.5 hectares (8.6 acre) in area and about 100 metres (328.1 ft) deep. The water level is about 10 metres (32.8 ft) below the surrounding forest, and through the clear blue water, fish are easy to see, mostly bream, with some carp
Carp
Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...
.
Local legends
Local legends warn that you not eat fish from Kashiba because even if you leave the fish on the fire all day and all night, it will not be cooked. Kashiba is also said to contain a monsterLake monster
A lake monster or loch monster is a purported form of fresh-water-dwelling megafauna appearing in mythology, rumor, or local folklore, but whose existence lacks scientific support. A well known example is the Loch Ness Monster. Lake monsters' depictions are often similar to some sea monsters...
called “Ichitapa” or “lsoka lkulu.” When a man stands on the rocks at the lake’s edge, with his shadow over the water, the monster comes up from the depths and catches the shadow, so that the victim becomes paralysed and falls in the water.
But the best known of the legends of Kashiba goes back to the earliest history of the Lamba people, to Kabunda, son of Chipimpi, the chief who came from the west with seeds to plant the first gardens for the people. One day, when Chipimpi's people had finished plastering a grain store, he gave them all porridge to eat, but to Kabunda and his nephew he gave a goat so that they might wash off the mud with the goat's blood. But Kabunda demanded the blood of a man, and Kapimpi gave him a slave to kill. Kabunda killed the slave with his hoe, saying: "Now we are the people of the Hair Clan, for we have killed a man with hair on his head. But you, my father and my cousin, are people of the Goat Clan:' And Kabunda slew Chipimpi and became chief.
In time, Kabunda began to ill-treat the younger relatives of Chipimpi, members of the Goat Clan, and they became angry, saying they were of the chief's clan and should not be treated thus. "Let us now kill ourselves! Let us see what will remain! Kabunda can remain, and the kingdom can be his!" So they all went to Kashiba, where they took all their goods and chattels, goats and chickens and dogs, and tied themselves together with a long rope and threw themselves into the lake. But a member of the Leopard Clan was at the end of the rope, and at the last moment, he cut it in front of his wife and carried her back to the village, where she became the mother of all the Goat Clan.
General references
- Tales of Zambia by Dick Hobson. 1996. Zambia Society Trust, London.
- A visit to Lake Kashiba and the local legend story