Nyaminyami – The River God
The great serpent spirit of the Zambezi, protector of the BaTonga people and guardian of the river.
TO ChiTonga
The ChiTonga text of this story is being written down with native speakers from Binga. Check back soon!
EN English
Long ago, before the great wall of concrete was built across the Zambezi, the BaTonga lived peacefully along the banks of the river. The river gave them fish, water for their gardens and rich soil every season when the floods came and went.
Deep beneath the waters lived Nyaminyami, the river spirit. The elders say he has the body of a great serpent and the head of a fish, so long that no one could measure him. When food was scarce, Nyaminyami would let the people cut meat from his body so they would not go hungry, and the river would keep providing.
Nyaminyami lived with his wife near a great rock in the gorge called Kariwa. When strangers came to build a dam, they separated Nyaminyami from his wife. The elders warned that the river god would be angry.
In 1957 and again in 1958, huge floods – larger than anyone had ever seen – rushed down the Zambezi and destroyed much of the work on the dam. Many believed this was Nyaminyami showing his anger.
Today the BaTonga still say Nyaminyami lives beneath Lake Kariba. Sometimes, they say, the earth trembles near the lake – it is Nyaminyami trying to reach his wife on the other side of the wall.
Lesson: Respect the river and the land that gives you life.
