Homage to Chief Mkwawa

Iringa, February 15, 2018, Thursday

This would be our final day in Iringa, and, as far as I was concerned, we had saved the best for last. I had long wanted to visit Iringa to see a different part of Tanzania, but more compelling than that was my desire to see the skull of Chief Mkwawa, a Hehe leader who fought back against the Germans when they invaded his territory in the 1890s. In his first and most successful battle, his troops killed some 300 German led troops, which was most upsetting for the Germans, who thought that Africans wouldn’t be intelligent enough to plan and carry out such a successful attack. On the other hand, the Hehe were also amazed, as they had believed it would be impossible to kill white men. To prove that wazungu could die, Chief Mkwawa had their heads cut off and carried back to his court.

Soon after that battle, the Germans attacked and destroyed Chief Mkwawa’s walled fortress, which had a wall 12 feet high and 8 miles long. The chief and some of his warriors escaped into the forest, from where they launched guerrilla attacks against the Germans for 4 years. At the end, not wanting to be captured, Chief Mkwaka shot himself. When the Germans found his body, they cut off his head and sent it back to Germany, where it was studied for clues to his intelligence. Finally, in 1954 the skull was returned to the Hehe and placed in a small museum at Kalenga, about 20 kms outside Iringa. This place was the focus of my pilgrimage to pay homage to the leader of the “fierce Hehe.”

Here are some notes on Chief Mkwawa:

   “ The Germans had occupied Hehe country and following the massacre of a delegation sent by Mkwawa, he retaliated in 1891 by ambushing in Lugalo an armed column headed by Lieutenant von Zeiewski. He seized enough weapons and ammunition to keep up resistance for nearly 3 years during which the Germans prepared their assault: in October 1894 a well-organised expeditionary force under the command of Tom Prince, an English-born German officer, stormed Kalenga, the court town of the Hehe, defeated them and captured the town. Mkwawa escaped and in spite of an enormous reward of 5,000 rupees, he was not betrayed and continued harassing German troops with guerilla actions for 4 years until 1898. Trapped, he shot himself.

    The Germans' exultation at this hard-won victory ran so high that they cut off Mkwawa's head which was sent for display to the Bremen Anthropological Museum in Germany, his body being returned to his people for ritual burial. In June 1954 his head was returned and handed over to Mkwawa's grandson. Chief Adam Sapi, who was to become the First Speaker of the independent Tanzania Parliament.”

The ride out to the museum was the usual bumpy trip past the usual cornfields, mud brick houses, and small shops. However, the museum, which had been built by the British in 1953, was an oasis of beauty and calm. The building is very small, but well designed, and the garden around it and the graves there are meticulously maintained.

The Chief Mkwawa National Museum

Inside, was not only the famous skull but also various weapons and artifacts used by Mkwawa. His rifles were in a case, and another case held special clay vessels, one of which Mkwawa used as a compass and another which he used to discern if any of his 62 wives were unfaithful. Both vessels would have special liquids poured into them and if there was a bubbling effect, then with the compass, one would know directions, and with the other vessel one would know if a wife had cheated. Apparent wives number 8 and 13 had been unfaithful, so their ears were cut off.

Chief Mkwawa's Skull, returned to the Hehe in 1954

Chief Mkwawa's guns. The one at the bottom was given to him by an Arab; the one at the top he made himself.

Divination tools. The center one is Mkwawa's compass, and the red and blue one discerns unfaithful wives.

Hehe weapons. The bow and stool are Mkwawa's. The shield and other weapons are not.

On the grounds were the graves of the Hehe chiefs who followed after Mkwawa. The current chief, whose father died relatively young is only 16 years old and attends the Iringa International School. Until he is older, his uncles rule on his behalf though the young chief himself must agree with their decisions, and only he can perform certain ceremonies.

The graves of past Hehe chiefs

The present day chief

The guide at the museum was extremely well informed, and he and John had a great time discussing historical battles and examining the ruins of the high wall that had once enclosed the court. I enjoyed taking photos and sitting quietly in the courtyard. After nearly 2 hours, it was time to return to Iringa.

I had been asking the staff at our hotel about the Little Imported Goods Supermarket, which was mentioned in every hotel blurb I read online. Each hotel listed how many meters they were from this store, but no one seemed to know anything about it. I  googled, yahooed, and binged it without any success at all. However, on our way back into Iringa, Albert, an incredibly helpful young man from our hotel, had us stop at a supermarket which might have been at the correct location, and we bought some cookies and Laughing Cow for our bus ride. Then we were dropped off at Neema Crafts for lunch.

John's dessert at Neema Crafts

After a very leisurely lunch, once again on the terrace, we returned to our hotel to begin packing up for the trip back to Arusha. That didn’t take long, but the items I had purchased at Neema caused some difficulty in closing our one little suitcase, so I ended up with an additional plastic bag of stuff to carry on to the bus. We decided to stay at the hotel for dinner, which was far more convenient than delicious. Then, we turned in early since we would have to get up at 4:30.