Diesen Artikel gibt es auch auf Deutsch!
Die Höhlen in den Matumbi Hills (Tanzania) und ihre Bedeutung für die Einheimischen. Von Peter Marwan. In diesem Artikel wird ein kurzer Überblick über die Höhlen in Tanzania gegeben. Der Autor untersucht dann die Bedeutung der Höhlen für die Einheimischen als Zuflucht, als Trinkwasserreservoir und Jagdplatz sowie als Ort für kultische Handlungen. Breiten Raum nimmt die Beurteilung ein, welche Rolle die Höhlen für das wirtschaftliche Wachstum dieses Entwicklungslandes spielen können.
The Matumbi Hills are in the Southeast of Tanzania, in the district of Lindi which is not far away from the town of Kilwa. Recently the local caves were explored by two expeditions. The first one took place in 1994 by a small German-Turkish group [1] and the next one in 1995 by a larger group consisting of four German and eight Italian members [2]. And so the formation and the shape of the caves were to a great extent registered and described.
As a participant of the second expedition I was repeatedly asked by the natives why I was interested in these caves. By that I gave myself food for thought what importance the caves might have in the life of the local population. First direct questions remained without an answer; either they did not want to understand me or they could not do so. Slowly it became clear that the local people despite their remarkable politeness and friendliness had a certain reserve towards strangers as soon as those try to involve in their private matters. Nevertheless some relations of the local people to the caves gradually emerged.
Unfortunately, we do not know much about police constable Thurmann. We owe what we know to the short official reports in the ``Deutsches Kolonialblatt''. Probably in connection with the disturbances in 1905/06 Thurmann, the sergeant, received the military decoration of second class [3]. After a holiday in his home country, on 11 July 1910 Thurmann started his departure from Germany to East Africa as police constable [4]. After his cave explorations in 1911 he again stayed in Germany and then he travelled once more to Dar-es-Salaam in November 1913 [5]. The last time we hear about him is when he arrived in the protectorate in March 1914 as deputy assistant of second class [6]. Unfortunately, further research on the whereabouts of Thurmann did not lead to any result. The archives of the Thurmann family in Lippstadt which was made available to the local archives of the town by the diseased Doctor Erich Thurmann in 1995 does not include any useful information. Only a Heinrich Wilhelm Conrad Friedrich Thurmann was eligible according to their information but he performed his military service in the "Braunschweigischen Husarenregiment Nr. 17" from 1896/97 on [7]. Unpublished notes of Thurmann which probably concerned other caves or revealed details about the relations of the natives to these caves could not be found.
In the year 1910 Ambros Mayer, the missionary of the Catholic mission Nambiligja in the Matumbi Hills, wrote a detailed letter to the secret Bornhardt:
"In August 1909 police constable Weckauf from Kibata district discovered a huge cave in the Nangoma mountain, situated one hour in the Southwest of Nandembo. It was unknown until now to all white people travelling around in the country including the troops during the disturbances in 1905/06. In this cave thousands of insurgents could be sheltered safely with their wifes, children and enough stocks without being discovered by the troops marching by at the right and left [8]."
At the end of February 1910 Mayer himself visited the cave and he even found traces of the former camp there [9].
During his trip through the district in 1911 police constable Thurmann also arrived at the Nangoma and he also visited some other caves in the area [10]. The main use of the sketches of the positions of the caves made on this journey probably was to enable a quick intervention to the hiding places of the rebels in the case of future disturbances how Mayer already pointed out in his article of 1910:
"The closer approaching the cave mountain of Nangoma the more the untouched woods stands out, just not more than one plot. The natives have obviously spared it only to cover the entrance of the cave; indeed the cave was not known even to all Matumbi people. It was kept a close secret from all Europeans because of the easily understandable interest that the discovery of the cave would be more than a grievous defeat, because of the loss of a save hiding place [11]."
How important this exposure has been to the natives is also shown by the fact that some of them still remembered Thurmann and Mayer in 1995. And so in Kipatimu the about 60 year-old former officer Francis told me that a so-called Mayer had written about the Nangoma and that the natives had been extremely distrustful and unfriendly at the Namaingo on the first day because they had feared - as it turned out later - that the White had been up to something and that them spying out their caves just had been the first step. They also remembered the name of Thurmann who they called Thurmanni and one of them even knew the remains of the pits allegedly constructed by Thurmann's Askaris and he remembered that Thurmann had lived in Kibata.
In the Nangoma cave about 200 m away from the entrance we found an extravagant wooden construction. We learnt that it had used to be a trap for porcupines. In most parts of Africa the spines of this animal play a significant part for medicine men and witch doctors to which I am not familiar any further. We found them lying around in the Chingya (lower cave) which is not far away from the Nangoma. The natives who followed us while surveying the cave diligently picked them up and put them into their hair. Obviously the spines seemed to be important to them and perhaps for certain reasons they did not want to rely on finding them accidentally.
Another cave, the Wet Namaingo, serves as a usable water reservoir for the people far into the dry season. Usually you simply take water from the stream which comes out further uphill and then disappears in the cave. Gradually this source, however, dries up and you have to go inside the cave. The first part which leads water is not particularly large and thus you sooner or later have to switch to the source of Kihangembembe which is situated on the other side of the ridge. In mid-September 1995 about 30 litres per second [12] flowed out of the source which are maintained during the whole dry season according to the natives.
As this aspect of the caves is most related to the personal feeling of the natives it was most difficult to get information. In a private talk which just happened accidentally I was told by a 17 or 18 year-old native of Nandete that to him the impressive entrance of the Nangoma was an image of God. As I asked him about the numerous fireplaces in the area of the entrance he at least told me that the villagers, it seems especially young men, sometimes stay there in order to celebrate. Well, this exists also in Germany - although many environmentalists and cave protectors are very annoyed at it - in my opinion, however, that is another dimension. Whereas for Europe's industrial and leisure societies the incentive to celebrate in caves is rather love of adventure [13] as well as ``romantic'' associations and the thrill while staying in a cave [14], for people in Tanzania it certainly is the supposed metaphysical manifestation of the cave as a holy place which stimulates them to hold certain celebrations there. It is also known that near Tanga, in the north of the country, people visit caves in order to leave little offerings there [15]. The find of a clay pot which was lodged in the loamy ground in a wing of the Nangoma is a further, but a weak clue to a sacred importance of the cave.
Moreover, you can find in an article of 1974 about rock paintings in Tanzania [16] a list of these drawings in which 3 out of 18 places are marked with the note that you have to ask the natives' permission to enter the cave. Among those are also two drawings which were drawn on the walls of the caves. Apparently, the cave as a place strengthens the sacred character of the drawings.
The names of the caves are rather profane and do not reveal a particularly cultural importance of the caves. The name ``Nangoma'' was derived from Mayer as follows:
"Suddenly one believes standing in front of a portal whose lower half is blocked with a rock, whose back side resembles in the view of the natives a 'ngoma' (Negro drum). Probably the whole cave with its mountain or the whole mountain with its cave respectively was named 'nangoma' because of this the Negroes interesting property [17]."
The other name whose meaning we know is the name of the Mampombo cave. One of our local companions let us know that this was the name of the family who first discovered and sometimes stayed in the cave and that the family's name so far has been used for it. The names of the other caves simply have no further meaning explained Abdallah Botori Mweyo (see chapter 5.2).
In the north of Tanzania, nearby Tanga which is situated on the coast, there are the Amboni caves which are already used for touristic purposes. They also were surveyed by the German-Turkish team in 1994 [18]. Thereby it turned out that the caves are not several kilometres long as indicated in many guides, but have rather small dimensions: Amboni cave 3b has a length of 112 m, Amboni cave 2 is nearly 900 m long, and Amboni cave 3a which mainly is a tourist attraction is 620 m long [19]. Here the touristic use is restricted to a passable path which leads to the caves, an official cave guide, and to some permanent establishments in the area of the entrance. The number of visitors is relatively low and in the cave there is no electric light so that you get the original impression of what living in a cave was like.
Mr. Mweyo was born as the son of a wealthy farmer nearby Kipatimu. He also attended school there. He would have liked to continue his education but his father planned a marriage for him and so it was not possible. After his school days, however, he was still interested in more than his subsistence. Through an article in a newspaper on the Amboni caves his attention was drawn to the caves in the environs of Kipatimu and he tried to get as much information as possible. In 1985 he for the first time wrote to the competent ministry and he asked for experts who should work the caves so that they could be used for touristic purposes later on. From that he today even hopes for a general boom for the whole region.
On the second expedition mentioned above Mr. Mweyo introduced himself to us after a few days. After that he was a valuable aid in finding some new caves like two Namaingo and two Chingya caves and - due to his at least sufficient knowledge of the English language - in talking to the local people.
The head of the Antiquities Unit, Dr. Waane, supported both expeditions helpfully and open-minded for what we would like to thank him once again. We, of course, informed him of every single result. In a letter of 1 December 1995 Dr. Waane then reported to the author the steps which were planned on the basis of the results:
A pessimistic view of these intentions maybe does not allow more than mentioning the caves in any leaflet. The difficult access to the caves and their comparative simplicity prospectively won't attract many visitors. Even the fact that the caves will be protected will hardly have any effect besides a lot of paper warfare.
On the basis of these statements even optimists cannot see Mr. Mweyo's hoped improvement in the connection of Kipatimu to the road from Dar-es-Salaam to Kilwa or the Selous Game Reserve, not to mention the marketing of one or two of the caves and the strict supervision of the protection under the Antiquities Act of the remaining objects. And anything what costs money will be left undone for the time being.
The contested result of the presidential election [21] on 29 October 1995 will not necessarily improve the difficult economic situation [22]. On contrary the doubts which are now arising about the stability of Tanzania's society [23] will rather put off foreign investors who would be urgently required in the substantial privatisation which has just started. The problems of transport of a small village in a remote province do not have the priority now.
The trend which has started in the mid-70s in Tanzania to switch from agriculture based on sale to the system of self supply and the far more easier opportunities of the farmers who live closer to the urban centre of Dar-es-Salaam to supply the black market [24] will increase the necessity of a second branch of industry besides agriculture.
Just as this report had been finished the ``Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' published an article on the plan of tourism compiled with the help of the European Union. It says:
"In the northern National parks three lodges and a camping place are now built for 50 million Marks. On Zanzibar a new hotel is built. Furthermore, the Tanzania Tourist Board negotiates with several international groups on the erection of hotels in Dar-es-Salaam. [25]"
The south is obviously not considered by the planners.
My special thanks go to the people who make it possible to write this article: Michael Laumanns for organizing the journey and for several useful informations, Mr. Mweyo for lots of hints and comments, Roger Schuster for looking through the manuscript, the staff of the community archive of Lippstadt and Mrs. Christa Thurmann for the pleasant help, Daniel Gebauer for the cave surveys and Dr. S.A.C. Waane for the friendly information. I would also thank very much to Nicole Schuster for the translation of this document.