Take a cultural tourism tour
Select
an arranged tour, or create your own by choosing from a list of options
those that you would most like to experience while visiting Mazembe.
All tours include a traditional meal and a presentation of singing and
dancing by villagers.
Tour 1: Fishing and Farming
Walk along the glistening shore of Lake Malawi to see the fishermen pull their dugout canoes ashore and unload their nights' catch before a delighted crowd of villagers ready to barter. Chat with them if you like as they repair their pink nets spread out on the white sand beach. Visit the local orphanage, then a potter making traditional clay pots for storing water or cooking beans, and then a mat-maker stitching strips of bamboo into mats. See women tilling the cassava they cultivate in dry mounds all around the village, and see how they transform the root by soaking, drying and pounding it into 'nsima', the local staple food. End the tour at the small museum and shop with crafts made by a local women's group before enjoying your meal and entertainment.
Tour 2: Trades
Walk along trails through the village to the riverbed of the Mazembe River where a community garden flourishes in dry season when the waters lurk just beyond in the reeds. In rainy season the River's waters replenish the nutrients in the garden soil. Nearby, no matter what the season, women tend the mounds of cassava, harvest, peel and soak the roots, dry it as they can on rough hewn racks or boulders by the lake, pound it and turn it into 'nsima', the local staple. Dry season is also the best time to see brick makers stomp and form the clay soil into bricks to dry in the sun before baking them. From the same clay soil, traditional pots are made by women, while men make the bamboo mats and do the tailoring and carpentry. Visit the local primary school on the way back to the local museum and shop before enjoying your meal and entertainment.
Tour 3: Create your own
Choose from the following lists of options. Regular tour options involve a walk along sandy paths through the village to various sites. Longer tour options require walking in the hills above Mazembe or just more time, such as taking a ride in a dugout canoe. All tours include a meal in a local home and a presentation of traditional singing and dancing. Contact information and more...
