0:00:02 > 0:00:03BBC Four Collections -
0:00:03 > 0:00:07specially chosen programmes from the BBC archive.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09For this collection, Sir David Attenborough
0:00:09 > 0:00:12has chosen documentaries from the start of his career.
0:00:12 > 0:00:16More programmes on this theme, and other BBC Four Collections,
0:00:16 > 0:00:18are available on BBC iPlayer.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26If Africa has a heart, this must be very close to it,
0:00:26 > 0:00:29for within a few miles of one another, there rise here
0:00:29 > 0:00:32two of its main arteries.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35A few miles north lies the source of the Congo River,
0:00:35 > 0:00:38which flows west down to the Atlantic Ocean.
0:00:38 > 0:00:43And this tiny brook at my feet is the infant Zambezi River.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46We're planning to follow it along its entire course,
0:00:46 > 0:00:51sometimes on foot, sometimes in boats, sometimes by car.
0:00:51 > 0:00:55It's a journey of 2,200 miles.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05SHRIEKING
0:01:06 > 0:01:10CHIRRUPING
0:01:12 > 0:01:15SHRIEKING
0:01:15 > 0:01:18CROAKING
0:01:20 > 0:01:25Baboons. The ruffians, the bandits of the African bush.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36SHRIEKING
0:01:36 > 0:01:39Noisy, quarrelsome, mischievous,
0:01:39 > 0:01:42frightened of nothing, except perhaps a lion.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46They roister through the forest around the source of the Zambezi,
0:01:46 > 0:01:50as they do across most of Africa below the Sahara.
0:01:50 > 0:01:51They will eat anything -
0:01:51 > 0:01:55birds' eggs, fruit, insects, carrion.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59Sometimes they will even catch and kill a young antelope.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03They wander in bands up to 100-strong,
0:02:03 > 0:02:07ruled despotically by one big, powerful male.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10When he goes down to drink at the river,
0:02:10 > 0:02:12everyone else clears out of the way.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33Within a few miles of its beginning,
0:02:33 > 0:02:36the young Zambezi swells from a trickling stream
0:02:36 > 0:02:38into a sizeable river,
0:02:38 > 0:02:41and already it is a focus of animal life.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46A white-fronted bee-eater,
0:02:46 > 0:02:51iridescent green with a brilliant gash of scarlet across its throat.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56The dry season is ending,
0:02:56 > 0:03:00and the bee-eaters are beginning to prospect for nests.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03A few of their burrows in the riverbank
0:03:03 > 0:03:07have survived from last season, and every evening the birds congregate
0:03:07 > 0:03:09to survey the available accommodation.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14They seem positively to enjoy the business of burrowing,
0:03:14 > 0:03:16and if there's not a vacant hole
0:03:16 > 0:03:19and they aren't yet sufficiently enthusiastic
0:03:19 > 0:03:21to begin a completely new one,
0:03:21 > 0:03:24then they can still luxuriate in a similar thrill
0:03:24 > 0:03:28by wriggling in the soft, warm sand.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31SQUEAKY CHIRRUPING
0:03:39 > 0:03:43But there is still great competition to occupy any available burrow,
0:03:43 > 0:03:48and since at this stage no-one has yet established complete ownership,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51everyone tries to barge his way into a hole,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54even if there are three or four others already inside.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06At this early stage in its career,
0:04:06 > 0:04:09the Zambezi is largely ignored by roads.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24Only occasionally does a track endeavour to cross the river,
0:04:24 > 0:04:28and then - only too often - by the most rickety of bridges.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41We followed the river as it wound its way westwards,
0:04:41 > 0:04:45through Zambia towards the Portuguese territory of Angola.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49CHANTING
0:04:49 > 0:04:52Beneath these blankets lie six young girls.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56SINGING
0:05:09 > 0:05:13At their head sits an old woman, supervising the ritual,
0:05:13 > 0:05:18and by her side, the sacred muudi bush, which has a milky sap
0:05:18 > 0:05:20and symbolises womanhood,
0:05:20 > 0:05:24for the children beneath the blankets have reached a crisis in their lives.
0:05:24 > 0:05:30They are about to leave childhood and emerge into the adult world.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33SOLO VOICES SING OTHERS RESPOND IN CHORUS
0:05:45 > 0:05:48None must move a muscle as they lie, half-suffocated,
0:05:48 > 0:05:51beneath the blankets under a savage sun,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53while their elders dance around them.
0:05:53 > 0:05:58SINGING CONTINUES
0:06:05 > 0:06:11This dance is only the beginning of a long period of initiation,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14during which the girls will be hidden from the public gaze.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17Throughout this time, they live in a small shelter
0:06:17 > 0:06:19on the outskirts of the village,
0:06:19 > 0:06:21visited only by the old women
0:06:21 > 0:06:25who instruct them in the skills and duties of adult life.
0:06:28 > 0:06:33One of the girls is now due to be ceremonially reborn as a woman,
0:06:33 > 0:06:36and this is also the prelude to her marriage.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38Behind a screen outside the village,
0:06:38 > 0:06:41the women prepare her for her wedding.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44They treat her almost like a doll,
0:06:44 > 0:06:46as they dress her hair in the fashion approved by custom.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50CHATTERING
0:06:50 > 0:06:54They wash her body and anoint it with oil and red ochre.
0:07:01 > 0:07:06This is her wedding day, an occasion for her to wear all her finest,
0:07:06 > 0:07:08her most dazzling possessions.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11A muslin petticoat from the nearest village store.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16A circlet of beads with a little charm hanging over the brow.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21And the most precious and highly esteemed of all,
0:07:21 > 0:07:23the badge of true sophistication -
0:07:23 > 0:07:26a pair of plastic sunglasses.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29The child is about to become a woman.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38At the same time, in the centre of the village,
0:07:38 > 0:07:42her bridegroom to be, unattended, is also washing himself,
0:07:42 > 0:07:46behind a flimsy screen that is no more than a symbol of privacy.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49DISTANT SINGING
0:07:54 > 0:07:57The women prepare a final meal for the bride,
0:07:57 > 0:08:01of glutinous cassava puddings and chicken boiled with peppers.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07WOMEN CHATTERING
0:08:35 > 0:08:40The first mouthful of chicken she may chew and swallow.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50But the second must be offered to the spirits of the unborn children
0:08:50 > 0:08:53of her marriage, and so she will spit it out ceremonially
0:08:53 > 0:08:55towards the east, where the sun rises.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03The third must be sent westward, to propitiate the ancestors,
0:09:03 > 0:09:07whose spirits departed at death into the sunset.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13Even now, she may not be seen by any man.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16And she comes in to the village hidden beneath a sheet
0:09:16 > 0:09:18and escorted by the women.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23DRUMMING
0:09:36 > 0:09:40Beneath the sheet, to keep her company, is an even younger girl,
0:09:40 > 0:09:41her bridesmaid.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45CHANTING
0:09:48 > 0:09:51THEY CHANT
0:09:52 > 0:09:54WOMEN ULULATE
0:10:17 > 0:10:20THEY CHEER AND SING
0:10:20 > 0:10:22The moment of rebirth has come.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26Her father with an axe, her mother with a hoe to symbolise
0:10:26 > 0:10:30the work that will now be hers, reveal her to the world.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34The young bride sits dazed and bewildered.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38She is a woman and a wife. She is 12.
0:10:45 > 0:10:50And the wedding guests put gifts of money into the bowl beside her.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00After the river has swung down south through Angola,
0:11:00 > 0:11:03it emerges once more into Zambia.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07And here it has to force its way across the Chavuma rapids.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10And below the rapids, we crossed it.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27OK, we go. Right? We go.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30MEN CHATTER
0:11:40 > 0:11:43THEY CHANT AND SING
0:11:49 > 0:11:53The Zambezi here is nearly a quarter of a mile wide.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56Livingstone, the first European to explore most of its course,
0:11:56 > 0:11:59had hoped that the Zambezi would prove to be a highway
0:11:59 > 0:12:04for commerce and civilisation leading right to the centre of the continent.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08Even today, optimistic people are still hatching plans to use
0:12:08 > 0:12:10the river in this way.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12But its long passive stretches
0:12:12 > 0:12:15are interrupted by a series of falls and rapids
0:12:15 > 0:12:17which no boat can negotiate.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19And Chavuma is the first.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21MEN CONTINUE TO CHANT AND SING
0:12:49 > 0:12:54The Zambezi is now 250 miles old.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58Leaving Angola behind, it glides on southwards through Zambia
0:12:58 > 0:13:02towards the wide, flat flood plains of Barotseland.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10CRANES SQUAWK
0:13:35 > 0:13:39Crowned cranes choose the lonelier stretches of the Barotse Plain
0:13:39 > 0:13:42for their dancing grounds.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46As one arrives, it issues a formal invitation to dance by bobbing
0:13:46 > 0:13:50its head, an invitation that isn't always accepted.
0:13:50 > 0:13:55All the crane family seems to be obsessed by a passion for dancing,
0:13:55 > 0:13:59but none of them more so than the crowned crane.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03And when a bobbing invitation IS accepted, then the ecstasy begins.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29Sometimes a dancer gets so excited that it will pick up a feather
0:14:29 > 0:14:33or a piece of straw and jubilantly toss it into the air.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16But dancing in this fashion does have its hazards,
0:15:16 > 0:15:18particularly if there's a strong wind
0:15:18 > 0:15:21to catch your broad wings and blow you over.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34Every morning throughout the year,
0:15:34 > 0:15:38the flocks of cranes gather to indulge in their dance.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41They bounce and they flap for an hour or more.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45And then, as the day wears on, the passion dies.
0:15:45 > 0:15:50Their minds turn to more mundane affairs and they begin to feed,
0:15:50 > 0:15:55their golden coronets glinting in the relentless, scorching sun.
0:16:12 > 0:16:17The fires that, at the end of the dry season, blaze on the plains
0:16:17 > 0:16:20can lick through the parched tinder-dry grass
0:16:20 > 0:16:22with frightening speed.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24And if there's a strong wind behind them,
0:16:24 > 0:16:27they surge forward as fast as a man can run.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36Lizards and snakes scuttle away ahead of the flames.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39Insects and small birds take to flight
0:16:39 > 0:16:43and are swept into the sky by the gigantic updraught.
0:16:43 > 0:16:49And so, ahead of the advancing line of fire, falcons, hawks
0:16:49 > 0:16:54and harriers sweep through the smoke waiting to pounce on the refugees.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20Although the larger animals can easily escape the flames
0:17:20 > 0:17:23by cantering gently ahead of them,
0:17:23 > 0:17:26the fire advances on such a wide frontier
0:17:26 > 0:17:29that it drives increasingly large herds of game before it.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47For days, the zebra will move in advance of the blaze
0:17:47 > 0:17:50until the fire reaches a stream or a stretch of sand
0:17:50 > 0:17:53or the wind drops.
0:17:53 > 0:17:58Then the flames die, leaving behind them a blackened, smoking land.
0:17:58 > 0:18:03Here and there among the stubble, lie a few corpses of creatures
0:18:03 > 0:18:06that were scorched or asphyxiated to death.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09And gathering the corpses come the carrion feeders -
0:18:09 > 0:18:11the adjutant storks.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31The Barotse Plain is the home of the Lozi people
0:18:31 > 0:18:36who build their villages on small mounds dotted over the land.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45They build neatly each house with a courtyard,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48fenced by a tall wall of reeds.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51HUM OF BACKGROUND CHATTER
0:18:51 > 0:18:53COCK CROWS
0:19:10 > 0:19:12Many of the villages have their own blacksmiths.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15And though they now use fencing wire,
0:19:15 > 0:19:18oil drums and discarded pieces of European machinery
0:19:18 > 0:19:22as a source of their iron, they still work the metal by traditional methods
0:19:22 > 0:19:26and in a forge powered by goatskin bellows and charcoal,
0:19:26 > 0:19:29the smiths turn out the axes and spears without which
0:19:29 > 0:19:32any Lozi man would feel almost naked.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42An ivory carver works near the smith,
0:19:42 > 0:19:45for this indeed is no ordinary village.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49This is Lealui, the capital of Barotseland.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52And this man is a member of the entourage of the Litunga -
0:19:52 > 0:19:55the paramount chief.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01Everything he makes belongs to the Litunga.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04Some objects will be part of the Royal regalia
0:20:04 > 0:20:08that may be owned by none but the Litunga himself.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11And most important of them, the fly whisks -
0:20:11 > 0:20:15ivory handled and tufted with hair from an eland's tail.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21The Litunga is a demigod.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25He is so sacred that he must live in seclusion, shut away in his palace
0:20:25 > 0:20:31behind a series of tall reed fences each tied with special bindings
0:20:31 > 0:20:36and topped with wooden spikes that are the prerogative of royalty.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39DRUMS PLAY
0:20:50 > 0:20:54The musicians who regularly play in the outer courtyard of the palace
0:20:54 > 0:20:58are also the king's personal servants.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02On the eve of important ceremonials, their xylophones and drums
0:21:02 > 0:21:04echo across the village for days on end.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13Few people are privileged enough to be allowed to pass through
0:21:13 > 0:21:17the outer courtyard and enter the inner enclosure.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24Here, in a shrine, are kept the trophies of the Royal hunts.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27The backbones and the tails of elephants slaughtered by the Litunga
0:21:27 > 0:21:31and the Royal hunters in times gone by,
0:21:31 > 0:21:33together with the Royal hunting spears.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37Elephants in Barotseland, like sturgeon in Britain, are Royal game
0:21:37 > 0:21:41and none may kill an elephant without the Litunga's permission.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50Only the privileged may seek an audience with the Litunga.
0:21:50 > 0:21:55And when a visitor arrives, he must make obeisance in the inner courtyard
0:21:55 > 0:21:57to show his respect for the god king.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05Visitors arriving in the capital
0:22:05 > 0:22:07from outlying parts of the Barotse kingdom
0:22:07 > 0:22:11give an even more elaborate Royal salute as they approach the palace.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16THEY CHANT
0:22:22 > 0:22:25The Litunga is about to make one of his rare visits
0:22:25 > 0:22:27to the village beyond his palace walls.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36CLAPPING
0:22:40 > 0:22:45He is on his way to open the courts which rule the land,
0:22:45 > 0:22:48and like the Queen's opening of Parliament in Westminster,
0:22:48 > 0:22:51it's an occasion of much ceremonial.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53The Litunga's grandfather, Lewanika I,
0:22:53 > 0:22:57signed treaties with the government of Queen Victoria
0:22:57 > 0:23:00and the Litunga himself has many times left his kingdom
0:23:00 > 0:23:04and come to Britain to discuss the affairs of his country.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08And so Western formal dress has now become part of the formalities
0:23:08 > 0:23:10of this ancient African ritual.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13XYLOPHONES PLAY AND DRUMS BEAT
0:23:38 > 0:23:41As the Litunga leaves the precincts of the palace,
0:23:41 > 0:23:43and emerges into the village, his people welcome him.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47CHEERING
0:23:48 > 0:23:53The paramount chief, the people believe, is descended from God.
0:23:53 > 0:23:58His full title - Mbumu wa Litunga - means literally "Lord of the Land".
0:23:58 > 0:24:02It is he who is the custodian of the Earth's fertility
0:24:02 > 0:24:05and in paying homage to him, the Lozi people are paying respect
0:24:05 > 0:24:09to the land that provides them with their food and their livelihood.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12WOMEN ULULATE
0:25:16 > 0:25:20WOMEN ULULATE, DRUMS PLAY
0:25:20 > 0:25:24None of the business of dispensing justice or debating decisions,
0:25:24 > 0:25:27which is the function of the Kuta, the Barotse court,
0:25:27 > 0:25:29will be carried out today.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33The Litunga will inaugurate the session, blessing it by his presence
0:25:33 > 0:25:36and will listen to music played by the Royal musicians.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40The Barotse kingdom includes three main tribes,
0:25:40 > 0:25:44and so the Litunga must hear music that belongs to each of them.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47So acknowledging symbolically
0:25:47 > 0:25:49the union of the three people in one nation.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54And while he listens, his senior ministers confer with him.
0:25:54 > 0:25:55XYLOPHONE-LIKE MUSIC PLAYS
0:26:01 > 0:26:05THEY CONFER IN LOZI
0:26:13 > 0:26:15After the Litunga has left,
0:26:15 > 0:26:18the day-to-day business of the courts may begin.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22Here, Lozi men will come and present their grievances
0:26:22 > 0:26:25and their troubles to a court of elders
0:26:25 > 0:26:26who, in the past, were chiefs
0:26:26 > 0:26:30and held their positions by virtue of their ancestry,
0:26:30 > 0:26:33but who today are elected by tribal vote.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40THEY SPEAK IN LOZI
0:26:49 > 0:26:51Many of the disputes to be settled
0:26:51 > 0:26:56will concern the Lozi's main source of wealth - cattle.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00Handsome, long-horned beasts that during the dry season
0:27:00 > 0:27:02graze over the wide Barotse plains.
0:27:07 > 0:27:09MOOING
0:27:09 > 0:27:13Every evening they are tethered to stakes in one particular place
0:27:13 > 0:27:17so that their droppings will be concentrated on one patch
0:27:17 > 0:27:20which later will be used for a fertile garden.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29The Zambezi, which flows down the centre of the kingdom of Barotseland,
0:27:29 > 0:27:34also gives much of its wealth to the people on its banks,
0:27:34 > 0:27:36for it is rich in fish.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39And along the river's length stand small encampments
0:27:39 > 0:27:41where fishermen smoke their catch
0:27:41 > 0:27:44before trading it right through the kingdom.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53In the far south of the Barotse Plain,
0:27:53 > 0:27:58the Zambezi has to cross the rocky barrier of the Sioma Falls.
0:27:58 > 0:28:03When the rainy season comes, the Zambezi swells and is so impeded
0:28:03 > 0:28:07by these falls that it dams up behind them and spills over its banks
0:28:07 > 0:28:11so that the huge plain becomes one vast, shallow lake and the lands
0:28:11 > 0:28:16on which the cattle once grazed become the domain of water birds.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20HIGH-PITCHED BIRD CALLS
0:28:28 > 0:28:31These are skimmers - strange birds
0:28:31 > 0:28:34which have a greatly elongated lower beak
0:28:34 > 0:28:38which they dip into the water as they skim over the surface
0:28:38 > 0:28:41in order to catch little fish and insects.
0:29:04 > 0:29:06Elegant and beautiful in flight,
0:29:06 > 0:29:11when they settle, their extraordinary bills give them a grotesque look.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17PIPING BIRD CALLS
0:29:19 > 0:29:22Cormorants arrive to guzzle on the fish
0:29:22 > 0:29:24that now swarm in the shallow waters.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40And above the lagoons hover the little pied kingfishers.
0:29:40 > 0:29:41SPLASH
0:29:41 > 0:29:45They hang in the air, their beaks poised like daggers
0:29:45 > 0:29:49until they spot a silvery glint in the water that signals a meal.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12Among the many birds assembling on the flooded plain
0:30:12 > 0:30:15come flocks of openbill storks.
0:30:15 > 0:30:17They get their name from the fact
0:30:17 > 0:30:21that they can't fully close their beaks. There's a gap halfway down.
0:30:29 > 0:30:31The delicacy which lures them here
0:30:31 > 0:30:35are the snails which swarm in the reeds.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40Some naturalists have suggested that the birds use the gap
0:30:40 > 0:30:44in their bills as a sort of nutcracker when tackling a snail.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47Now we had a chance of finding out if this was true.
0:30:54 > 0:30:56It isn't.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59The openbill does the trick working delicately with only
0:30:59 > 0:31:03the tip of its beak - using it, in fact, not like a nutcracker
0:31:03 > 0:31:05but more like a pair of forceps.
0:31:16 > 0:31:18As the floods rise,
0:31:18 > 0:31:21the people are compelled to move from their villages.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24And with them, they must take their cattle.
0:31:24 > 0:31:28CATTLE LOWING
0:32:05 > 0:32:08The cattle are unwilling swimmers.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11As long as the bank they've just left is near,
0:32:11 > 0:32:13they will do their best to return to it
0:32:13 > 0:32:15rather than head out into open water.
0:32:15 > 0:32:21They circle and eddy until one of them assumes the duties of leader
0:32:21 > 0:32:23and swims out boldly.
0:32:23 > 0:32:27When at last that happens, most of the herd will follow.
0:32:27 > 0:32:29MEN SHOUT
0:32:37 > 0:32:42MEN SHOUT AND WHISTLE
0:33:02 > 0:33:06But, even now, some of the stragglers try to swim back
0:33:06 > 0:33:08and have to be headed off.
0:33:26 > 0:33:31CATTLE LOWING
0:33:31 > 0:33:36Soon, the waters are lapping around Lealui, the capital itself.
0:33:36 > 0:33:41The people must move out to the hills on either side of the plain
0:33:41 > 0:33:44and the departure of the Litunga for his wet season capital
0:33:44 > 0:33:48is the occasion for the greatest festival in the whole of Barotseland.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50On the morning of his departure,
0:33:50 > 0:33:53the entire domestic possessions of the Royal Court
0:33:53 > 0:33:55are brought down to the water's edge.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04The Litunga will travel in the Royal barge, the Nalikwanda.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13On board it goes the palace safe.
0:34:15 > 0:34:16MAN SHOUTS IN LOZI
0:34:18 > 0:34:21The noblemen, the Ndunas, who will paddle the barge
0:34:21 > 0:34:25dress themselves with kilts of skins.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31On their heads, they must wear pieces of a lion's mane.
0:34:37 > 0:34:41The national drums must also be put aboard
0:34:41 > 0:34:43for they will be played throughout the voyage.
0:34:50 > 0:34:51MUSIC AND ULULATION
0:34:51 > 0:34:54The Litunga is escorted to his barge by his advisers
0:34:54 > 0:34:56and government officials.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01ULULATION
0:35:09 > 0:35:12CHEERING
0:35:12 > 0:35:15ULULATION
0:35:20 > 0:35:24ULULATION
0:35:35 > 0:35:38And so, the entire fleet sets off.
0:35:44 > 0:35:49DRUMMING
0:36:00 > 0:36:03Behind the Nalikwanda come baggage barges,
0:36:03 > 0:36:06and the personal barges belonging to the Queen,
0:36:06 > 0:36:08and various important princes.
0:36:08 > 0:36:10But none must get ahead of the Nalikwanda.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27RHYTHMIC DRUMMING
0:36:38 > 0:36:43SINGING
0:36:50 > 0:36:54SINGING
0:37:02 > 0:37:05In the evening, the fleet arrives at Limulunga,
0:37:05 > 0:37:08the capital in the hills, and dry land.
0:37:12 > 0:37:17ULULATION
0:37:22 > 0:37:24The Litunga, the Lord of the Land,
0:37:24 > 0:37:28having changed into his most resplendent uniform on the voyage,
0:37:28 > 0:37:31leaves for his wet season palace
0:37:31 > 0:37:34where he will remain until the waters fall.
0:37:34 > 0:37:38ULULATION
0:37:49 > 0:37:54DRUMMING AND SINGING
0:37:55 > 0:38:00Now, squadrons of pelican circle the sky above the floods
0:38:00 > 0:38:04and wheel down to fish in the lagoons.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17WHOOPING BIRD CALLS
0:38:23 > 0:38:26WHOOPING BIRD CALLS
0:38:26 > 0:38:30BIRDSONG
0:38:32 > 0:38:36The river has always dominated the life of the Lozi.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39Every year, it brings down rich, fertile mud
0:38:39 > 0:38:42from the hills around its source
0:38:42 > 0:38:43and spreads it over the plain.
0:38:43 > 0:38:48Every year, the people must take refuge for six months in the hills
0:38:48 > 0:38:52while the Zambezi transforms their fields and pastures
0:38:52 > 0:38:55into a lake 100 miles long and 20 miles wide.
0:38:55 > 0:38:59Only when the river retreats between its banks
0:38:59 > 0:39:02and the water empties from the plain,
0:39:02 > 0:39:04can the Lozi return to their homes
0:39:04 > 0:39:09and reclaim the land from the lily trotters and the cranes.
0:39:10 > 0:39:15For, in truth, it is not the Litunga who is Lord of the Land,
0:39:15 > 0:39:17but the Zambezi.