Mfangano Island, Lake
Victoria, Kenya
THE ROCK ART
Africa has the
greatest variety of rock art than any other continent. Over 30
different African countries have rock art which represents the earliest
cultural and sometimes historical records of humankind. Kenya itself
has several different styles of art and a large number of sites
scattered through different regions.
In Suba District there are two different types of rock art – rock
paintings and rock engravings or carvings. Rock painting sites in the
area feature a geometric style of art usually consisting of concentric
circles painted in red and white. This particular style is the dominant
style in the Lake Victoria Basin and is also found in a number of
different parts of Kenya including one site only 70 kilometres from
Nairobi. It is also found in Tanzania and Uganda as in well as West and
Central Africa.
These paintings are attributed to ancient hunter-gatherer peoples
sometimes known as ‘Twa’. The Twa were ancestrally related to the
Pygmies of eastern Congo but no relationship existed between the two
peoples. Most of these paintings are thought to have been created
originally for rain making purposes, a tradition which the Suba seem to
have embraced when they came to the area around 200 years ago from
Uganda. Indeed the Suba were still using the sites for rain making
rituals until recent times. It
is known that similar paintings in Eastern Uganda, only 200 kilometres
north of Suba District, were also used for this purpose.
Entry tickets are issued at each site and a small visitors’ fee is
charged, which goes towards the maintenance of the site and also
towards supporting and empowering the local community living near each
site.
The cave at Mawanga on Mfangano Island is only a five-minute
walk from
the boat landing, of which the last few metres are quite steep (a
railing is provided). The paintings are similar in style to those found
in many places around the Lake Victoria Basin and feature red and white
painted concentric circles, spirals and sunbursts. They are thought to
be between 1,000 to 4,000 years old.
Although they were
painted as part of a vanished mythology, the cave,
the paintings and the surrounding area retain powers in the traditions
of the Abasuba. The Wasamo clan, who live around the cave, are the
rainmakers among the Abasuba, and the elders confirm that the paintings
were used until the 1980s for rain-making ceremonies, with the red
paintings representing the moon and the white ones representing the sun.
On the upland part of Mfangano Island is the Kwitone rock
shelter. The
art here is similar to that at Mawanga, although retaining more of its
colour and vibrancy. The elders of the Wagimbe clan explain that if you
wanted to come to Kwitone to talk to the ancestors, you were not
allowed to call the site by its name or tell anyone that you were
coming. You were also supposed to abstain from sexual relations before
a visit. If you followed these recommendations, you might see hens, and
women drinking alcohol. If you didn’t follow the recommendations, you
would only see the rock art. The Wagimbe also say that their
grandmothers were the painters, although the paintings were almost
certainly made long before the Abasuba arrived.
According to the elders, in times of war and trouble, people would come
to the cave to ask the ancestors to bring peace. In the battle between
the Wagimbe and the Wasaki (approximately 200 years ago), the Wagimbe
took refuge in the cave. It is said that the women then dressed up as
men and, standing in the mouth of the cave, scared the attackers into
thinking that there were double the number of warriors than was
actually the case. The Wagimbe were victorious and people still come to
the cave to ask the ancestors for victory and success in their various
endeavours.
Although Kwitone has no special ritual purpose any more, trees around
the site are sacred and should not be cut down. Kwitone can be visited
with a guide from the Abasuba Museum and involves a vigorous – and
richly scenic – hike of about 1½ hours.
Rock engraving sites in the area include ‘cupule’ sites, where
cup-shaped depressions have been ground into the rock surface. Although
cupules often resemble a Bao game, their original use is likely to have
been for ritual purposes, such as initiation. Cupules are found all
over the world and are thought to be amongst the oldest form of rock
art, probably predating most other rock art by thousands of years.
Rock gongs are normally free-standing boulders balanced on rocks which
have a natural resonance, and often bear a number of cupules. When the
boulders are struck with a stone they emit a ringing tone like a beaten
gong. Rhythmic striking produces a series of notes that carry great
distances. A number of rock gongs are found in the Lake Victoria Basin
and in the Moru Koppies in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park, as well
as in the Mt Kenya region. It is known that in other parts of Africa
such gongs are used for divining purposes.
Cupules can be seen on the way to Kwitone, and arrangements can be made
with the Abasuba Museum to visit other cupule sites, and the rock gong
on Mfangano Island.
>> Please
read the Rock Art
Visitor's Code of Conduct
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2008 TARA