Nyaminyami

Nyaminyami (often spelled Nyami Nyami) is the river god of the Tonga people of the Zambezi Valley, usually pictured as a serpent-like being with the head of a fish. He is the protector and provider of the Tonga, and tribal elders and spirit mediums have the duty of speaking to him when he is angered. Tradition says he lived in a rock in the Kariba gorge, called Kariwa, a name that may mean ‘trap’ and gave the lake its name, and that anyone who went near it could be pulled underwater.

The god became widely known through the building of the Kariba Dam. Survey work began in the late 1940s and construction in the mid 1950s; the dam was completed in 1958 or 1960 depending on the source, at a cost of dozens of lives. Many Tonga were moved from their homes by the lake that rose behind the wall. Floods repeatedly damaged the works, including one in the 1957–58 rainy seasons that engineers described as a once-in-a-thousand-years (some sources say ten-thousand-years) event, and the Tonga said Nyaminyami was angry at the dam for separating him from his wife.

A frequently told story says that when workers vanished in the floods, Tonga elders called for a sacrifice, a black calf was set adrift on the river, and the workers’ bodies were found where the calf had been three days later. The calf’s disappearance is easily explained by crocodiles, but the return of the bodies has never been satisfactorily explained. Tonga tradition also attributes the small earth tremors in the Kariba area to the god trying to reach his wife.

Nyaminyami is a living part of Tonga spiritual life, not a monster, and the stories are told here with respect. Many Tonga have never accepted the dam as a victory over him, and the god’s image appears on carvings and walking sticks sold throughout Zimbabwe and Zambia.

A serpent-like river being with a fish’s head, said to be about three metres wide; legend says the water turns red when he swims by.

The Zambezi River gorge at Kariba and the lake behind the dam, where the Kariwa rock now lies deep under water.

Nyaminyami is a symbol of Tonga identity and of the many Tonga families moved from their homes by the lake. Carved Nyami Nyami figures and walking sticks are sold throughout Zimbabwe and Zambia, and a statue of the god stands near the dam wall.