The sacred hill

Kamusongolwa

A granite dome rising out of the miombo above Kasempa Boma — where Jipumpu built his capital, where the Kaonde turned back a kingdom, and where the chiefdom still climbs to remember.

People gathered on the summit of Kamusongolwa Hill with the plain stretching out below

The sacred hill

Kamusongolwa

A granite dome rising out of the miombo above Kasempa Boma. It is where Jipumpu built his capital, where the Kaonde turned back a kingdom, and where the chiefdom still climbs to remember.

The bare granite crag of Kamusongolwa Hill above the treeline
The cragThe exposed rock face, split and weathered, that made the hill defensible.
Kamusongolwa Hill in the green season above cultivated fields
The green seasonRains come, the fields go in, and the hill stands over the growing crop.
Kamusongolwa Hill under a hard blue sky in the dry season
The dry seasonHard blue skies over burnt ground — the season of the ceremonies.

The Hill of Skulls

In 1898 the Lozi King Lewanika sent his forces to bring the Kaonde under his dominion. Jipumpu took the hill and held it. The attackers were broken against the rock, and so many died that the place took a second name — the Hill of Skulls. Lewanika never came again.

The hill remains the spiritual centre of the chiefdom. It is climbed on ceremonial days, and it is treated as what it is: a grave, a fortress and a homeplace at once.

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