Lake Tanganyika Biodiversity Project

Pollution Control and Other Measures to Protect Biodiversity

in Lake Tanganyika (RAF/92/G32)

Socio-economic Special Studies - Tanzania

MAMMALS IN MTANGA
Notes on Ha and Bembe Ethnomammalogy in a Village bordering
Gombe Stream National Park, Western Tanzania

Martin Walsh

Natural Resources Institute, Chatham

Kigoma

January 1997
 MAMMALS IN MTANGA
Notes on Ha and Bembe Ethnomammalogy in a Village bordering Gombe Stream
National Park, Western Tanzania.

Martin Walsh

Introduction

The following notes on local knowledge of mammals in Mtanga are based upon
information gathered during an action research exercise, which was conducted in the
village on 13-18 January 1997. This information was recorded in the context of
discussions about the history of environmental impacts in Mtanga and relations
between the village and the neighbouring Gombe Stream National Park (the overall
findings of this research will be presented in the final report of the exercise). No
systematic attempt was made to collect ethnomammalogical data, there being
insufficient time to do so. These notes should therefore be treated as no more than a
starting point for future work of this kind, should it ever be undertaken.

Key informants

Most of the information recorded below was provided by two informants, one a
native Ha speaker and the other a native Bembe speaker. Interviews were conducted
in Swahili, both informants being good second-language speakers of the national
language and local lingua franca. Further background information on these two key
informants and the context of the interviews is given below.

(1) OB = Omari Bulio, a Ha speaker aged c.80 years, was interviewed by the author
on a number of occasions on four consecutive days, 15-18 January 1997. Mzee
Bulio was born in Kalinzi, and left when he was about 10 years old, following his
father, who was the founder of Mtanga and its first chief (umutwale, 1/2). He was
therefore one of the first Ha settlers in Mtanga, arriving at a time (in the mid-late
1920s) before the original forests had been cleared. He later succeeded his father as
the umutwale of Mtanga, and after Tanganyika’s independence in 1961 became the
first village chairman. Further background information on him can be found in the
accompanying Preliminary Glossary of Ha Plant Names. Notes on Ha
ethnoherpetology from the same informant are included in the companion paper
Snakes and other Reptiles in Mtanga (see the references at the end of this paper).
Most of the interviews with him took place at his home in Mtanga “A” sub-village,
and during them various other household members and passers-by contributed to our
discussions.

(2) KB = Kamili Barabara, a Bembe speaker, was interviewed in Kazinga sub-village

on 16 January 1997. He was born in Mlimba-Kasaba on (what is now) the Zairean

1
coast of Lake Tanganyika, and crossed the lake with his father, Anzaruni
Mlondachano, when the latter led other members of their clan (the Basitambwe) to
seek a new life on the eastern shore (the main motive for this migration being to
escape the iniquities of Belgian colonial rule). The main group of migrants first
settled in Ngerwe (in the valley immediately south of Kazinga) in 1950 – among an
existing community of Rundi migrants. In 1952 they moved north to Kazinga, which
had hitherto been only the site of temporary fishing camps. Gombe Stream Game
Reserve was already in existence at this time, while the hills between Ngerwe and the
reserve boundary (just north of Kazinga) were largely covered with virgin forest.
His father, the founder of the Bembe settlement at Kazinga, died at the start of the
1980s. Mzee Barabara himself became the chairman of Kazinga sub-village in 1995,
a position he still holds. Our interview took place in the open in the centre of
Kazinga (eavesdroppers were asked to move on), and ranged over a wide variety of
topics, including the history of settlement, land use, and relations with the
neighbouring reserve and park.

Unfortunately it was not possible in the time available to interview any Rundi
speakers, although they also comprise an important component in the population of
Mtanga, including Kazinga sub-village (where 12 of the 54 households are Rundi).

Local variation

It should be noted that there are important differences in the perceptions of wildlife
between the residents of Kazinga and those in the main centre of Mtanga to the
south. This is not just a reflection of ethnic differences (there are, after all, many
Bembe also living at the other end of the village), but of the fact that Kazinga borders
the national park and is visited more frequently by animals which live and breed in
Gombe. The forests in the centre and south of Mtanga were cleared at a much earlier
date (from the late-1920s onwards) and the hills there provide a refuge for fewer
species. The park impinges much more directly on the lives of Kazinga’s inhabitants
than it does on those of other villagers. The reverse is also reputed to be true, and it
is rumoured that Kazinga harbours a number of poachers. Given the short time
allotted to fieldwork and the kinds of interviews conducted, it was not possible to
confirm this rumour (which derives from external sources), though it was admitted
that women from Kazinga have been caught cutting firewood within the park. It
might be added that despite the fact that wild animals are more scarce to the south of
Kazinga and the park boundary, hunting is still a viable activity in the hills, and
carried out by Ha boys and young men among others.

Identification of species

The referents of most Ha and Bembe mammal names were relatively easy to
determine, especially when their Swahili names were known and they could be
checked against the list of ‘Larger Mammals of Gombe Stream National Park’ which
is included in the park guide (Bygott 1992: 64). The English and scientific names of
mammals given in the guide have been corrected to conform with those employed in

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the East Africa Natural History Society’s Check-list of the Mammals of East Africa
(Davies and Vanden Berghe 1994).

In the case of smaller mammals - including most insectivores and rodents -

identification has proved more difficult: many do not have specific Swahili names,
nor are they listed in the park guide or described in the only handbook available in
Kigoma (Haltenorth and Diller 1980). At the same time it is evident that more Ha
and Bembe names, plus more detailed descriptions of the mammals and their
utilisation, could be elicited if research were conducted more systematically and with
a larger number of informants. This remains a task for the future.

A note on linguistics

Both Ha and Bembe are Bantu languages, though they are not closely related. Ha is
a member of the Lacustrine group of Eastern Bantu languages. Published
information on the genetic affiliations of Bembe was not available at the time of
conducting the research or writing this report, though one source claimed that it was
closely related to Lega, another Zairean language. The orthography of the Ha terms
given in the text below follows the conventions employed in the accompanying
papers. Bembe terms have also been written using a simplified orthography which
does not mark vowel length, quality, or tones. The most striking feature of Bembe in
the names recorded is the loss of original /*k/, replaced in intervocalic position by a
glottal stop (marked in the text as /’/). This stop does not occur, however, in word-
initial position: thus the class 12 prefix is simply /a-/ (from earlier *ka-/).

The singular form of each Ha and Bembe name given below is followed by numbers
indicating the normal noun class designations of their singular and plural forms
respectively.

List of Species Described

Note: only orders and families containing species which were described (positively
or otherwise) and/or observed (in the case of bats) are included in the following list.

Order Insectivora

[Possible species can be found in the section on unidentified rodents / insectivores

below (Order Rodentia).]

Orders Macro- and Microchiroptera

[No information was collected on bats, although they can be readily observed in
Mtanga at night.]

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 Order Primates

Family Galagonidae: Bushbabies

Subfamily Galaginae

Galago sp., Galago sp.

Ha: ululila, 9/10 (?)
Bembe: mbila, 9/10
Galagos (bushbabies) are found among the trees on the hills behind Mtanga: they do
not seem to frequent the areas of human settlement along the lakeshore. OB noted
that these small noctural primates are difficult to see, but can be easily recognised by
their calls (the Ha name makes direct reference to this fact). KB, who did not know
their Swahili name (komba), described the mbila as a small primate which ‘sings’ or
cries at night. He added that they are not present in any numbers in Kazinga. The
Ha and Bembe names are probably related (both informants described the terms as
invariant in the plural: Ha ululila, however, looks like a class 11 singular form, in
which case its regular class 10 plural would be imbila, cognate with Bembe mbila).
It remains to be determined whether these names refer to just one species of galago
or more than one species. Murray mentions the presence of the (Western ) Needle-
clawed Galago, Galago elegantulus, in the national park (1992: 3): this is extremely
unlikely, however, because G.elegantulus is only found in western central Africa
(Haltenorth and Diller 1980: 257; for a list of the galago species found in East Africa
see Davies and Vanden Berghe 1994: 11).

Family Cercopithecidae: Old World Monkeys

Subfamily Cercopithecinae

Vervet Monkey, Cercopithecus aethiops

Ha: inkende, 9/10
Bembe: ambili, 12/13
Vervets sometimes raid farms in the hills above Mtanga, though not as often as
baboons. According to KB, they raid farms in Kazinga from within the nearby
national park. He noted that they eat maize, groundnuts, and other crops, but not
cassava. Vervets are, in turn, killed with spears and eaten by some Bembe (see under
Baboon, below). The Bembe name for vervets is cognate with the Swahili name
(tumbili).

Red-tailed Monkey, Cercopithecus ascanius

Blue Monkey, Cercopithecus mitis
Bembe: ima, 9/10
KB reported that he had never seen either of these closely-related monkeys in
Kazinga, only within the national park. Likewise, OB made no mention of their
presence, past or present, in Mtanga. The Bembe name, which is cognate with
Swahili kima, appears to describe both species: KB recalled the existence of two

4
types of ima, one ‘black’ and other ‘reddish’, like the colour of some cattle. He had
eaten their meat in Zaire, and described it as very tasty.

Olive Baboon, Papio anubis

Ha: inguge, 9/10
Bembe: amba, 9/10(?)
Baboons cause more damage than any other mammal to crops in Mtanga. According
to OB they are a daily nuisance, and eat all crops without any discrimination. Their
depredations (and those of bushpigs) were even greater in the past. When the Bembe
first came to Ngerwe in 1950 and asked him (as the Ha umutwale, chief) for land on
which to cultivate he told them that they were welcome, but warned them that
baboons and other vermin were a great problem. ‘That doesn’t bother us’, they
replied, ‘they’re food for us!’ The Ha, like most East African Bantu speakers, do not
eat baboons (or other primates), and indeed find it shocking that others do. As a
result of this Bembe practice, and their greater industry in cultivating, the local
population of baboons was much reduced. This, at least, was OB’s interpretation of
events. A woman in his household, however, thought that it was the national park
which had helped to bring the vermin problem down to a more manageable level,
because the staff fed and ‘calmed down’ the baboons and other wild animals. In the
past, she said, baboons posed a considerable threat to farmers, and were capable of
giving a nasty bite, which could expose the bone in a person’s limb (for her similar
view of the danger once posed by chimpanzees to humans, see below).

Whatever the reasons for their retreat from the south of Mtanga, they are still a daily
problem for farmers at Kazinga, next to the park boundary. KB observed that
baboons do not live in Kazinga itself, but raid from their safe refuge in the park.
They are, he said, especially fond of cassava, and their raids are worst when the
intervening woodland has been burned and there are fewer obstacles to their
progress. The local Bembe farmers do not build shelters from which to guard their
crops, but simply chase away or kill baboons whenever they see them in the fields
(refraining, he claimed, from following them into the park or killing them there).
Baboons are killed by the Bembe with spears or machetes. Some Bembe eat them
(as well as other primates), although the majority do not – including people with
strong religious convictions (both Christian and Muslim). KB estimated that one
quarter (around ten) of the Bembe households in Kazinga are primate-eating. The
men and youths in these households do not, however, go out hunting specifically for
baboons or other monkeys, but only kill and eat them opportunistically. Both male
and female baboons are eaten without any scruples, though animals with a lot of
meat on them are preferred. KB himself does not eat primate-meat (though he has
tasted monkey meat in the past: see above).

Subfamily Colobinae

Red Colobus Monkey, Procolobus badius

Bembe: asonga, 12/13
Like the Blue and Red-tailed Monkeys, the Red Colobus was said by both informants
not to occur in Mtanga (including Kazinga), though it is found in the national park.

5
Family Pongidae: Apes

Chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes

Ha: insoko, 9/10
Rundi (?): mafu, (?)
Bembe:so’o, 9/10
Chimpanzees once roamed over the Mtanga hills, before the removal of most of their
tree cover. The head teacher at Mtanga primary school, who used to walk down
from his home at Mgaraganza to Mtanga when he was a boy in the early 1960s,
recalled encountering them along the path in places where there was still some forest.
Since then chimpanzees have disappeared from the area: according to OB they
moved northwards into Gombe Stream National Park some twenty years ago. When
asked, he said that the Ha do not distinguish between male and female chimpanzees
by name (in many Bantu languages large or ‘solitary’ male primates are given a
special name). There were no chimpanzees in Kalinzi, the original home of OB and
other early Ha settlers in Mtanga: they therefore had less than 50 years of direct
acquaintance with the species. Since the disappearance of chimpanzees from
Mtanga, however, local school children have been taken to see them in the park, and
fishermen occasionally encounter them along the Gombe beaches. OB himself had
seen chimpanzees being fed with bananas in the park, and had watched one of them
banging tins (the alpha male ‘Mike’).

Nonetheless, knowledge of chimpanzees and their behaviour is limited. The woman

in OB’s household who described the dangerous behaviour of baboons (see above)
provided an even more alarming description of the terror which could be wreaked by
chimpanzees. The chimpanzee’s usual method of attacking a human, she said (and
everyone else agreed), was to tear off the unfortunate victim’s nose and gouge out his
(or her) eyes, before leaving the injured person for dead. Two incidents were
recalled in which chimpanzee attacks had led to death: one victim was a young man
(whose nickname, ironically, was ‘Makombe ya Sokwe’), the other a woman. Other
villagers had recovered from their injuries after being attacked. During the same
interview (with OB and other members of his household), a garbled version of past
events at Kalalangabo was also recounted. A number of chimpanzees survived in
this village (not many according to OB), to the south of Mtanga, long after they had
disappeared from Mtanga itself. According to Murray (1992: 42), they were all
killed by local hunters after a visit by TANAPA staff – the villagers fearing that they
might otherwise lose their land to the chimpanzees and their protectors. OB and
others did not mention the killing, but merely said that there were two ‘white’
chimpanzees at Kalalangabo which some Europeans (wazungu) wanted to take to
Gombe: they tried but (for unspecified reasons) failed.

The Bembe name for chimpanzees is cognate with the Ha name (Swahili sokwe is a
relatively recent borrowing). KB reported that they can still be seen at Kazinga,
though nowhere near as frequently as in the past. Until 1962 they were very
numerous: now a whole year may pass without a single chimpanzee being sighted at
Kazinga. He did not know the reason for this fall in their numbers, but suggested
that they had retreated into the park. Even when they were relatively common, the

6
Bembe did not think of them as vermin: chimpanzees did very little harm to crops,
with the possible exception of ripe bananas. KB did, however, describe the
chimpanzee as a fierce creature, noting that it is particularly unwise to approach a
female with young. Nonetheless, he had never heard of anyone at Kazinga who had
been harmed by a chimpanzee. In the past chimpanzees were killed and eaten by
some of the local Bembe: but this practice, according to KB, has since ceased
(whether because of the relative scarcity of chimpanzees locally or because of the
protection afforded to them he did not say). Wherever they are available and
unprotected, chimpanzees presumably still comprise an item in the eclectic diet of
some Bembe in Zaire.

Order Carnivora

Family Mustelidae: Weasels, Badgers and Otters

African Clawless Otter, Aonyx capensis

African Spot-necked Otter, Lutra maculicollis
Bembe: abako, 12/13
Both principal informants reported seeing otters (Swahili fisi maji) in the lake
shallows, especially north of the main Mtanga village centre. OB said that they are
seen around the headland between Mtanga and Ngerwe, but could not recall their Ha
name (suggesting instead that there was none). KB noted that otters are sometimes
seen swimming along the lake, especially in rocky areas, adding that they are never
seen in the local streams and that they are not always present in the lake either.
When asked, he opined that the frequency of otter sightings had not changed over
time. He also reported that, for obvious reasons, otters do not eat either spiny fishes
or electric fish. Otters are, however, hunted by some people for their meat, which is
said to be very good. It is not clear whether these descriptions (and the Bembe
name) refer to just one or both species of otter said to occur in the national park.

Honey Badger, Mellivora capensis

Ha: ikibuli, 7/8
The Ha name for the honey badger or ratel is a reflex of a widespread Eastern Bantu
root with the same meaning (occurring, for example, in such diverse languages as
Nyamwezi and Pangwa). According to OB, honey badgers are active. They are also
listed among the mammals found in the national park, although KB was unaware of
their presence in Kazinga (he also said that there are no bee-keepers or honey-
gatherers in this sub-village).

Family Hyaenidae: Aardwolf and Hyaenas

Spotted Hyaena, Crocuta crocuta

Ha: ifisi ( ?), 9/10
( ?): makopokopo, 6 ( ?)
Bembe: mlunga, 9/10
Bembe (?): ngawe, 9/10

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Although no longer seen, it seems that hyaenas once frequented Mtanga. According
to OB, the Ha name for the Spotted Hyaena is the same as the Swahili name (fisi).
KB also described an animal, last seen when he was a young man (in the 1950s?),
which can tentatively be identified with the Spotted Hyaena. He said that it was like
a hunting dog (mbwa mwitu), had a distinctive cry (like a lion), and killed goats,
though it only ate a little of the flesh. He gave its ‘proper’ Bembe name as mlunga –
at first he called it ngawe, before describing this as a local nickname (lugha ya
mtaani), possibly Rundi in origin. In Swahili, he said, it is called makopokopo. A
Swahili speaker from Ujiji later identified this as a Ha name for the Spotted Hyaena,
possibly another local nickname.

Family Felidae: Cats

African Wild Cat, Felis silvestris

Ha: ikimbulu, 9/10
Bembe: paka, 9/10
The Ha name for the wild cat is cognate with its name in a number of other Eastern
Bantu languages, including Swahili (kimburu). The Bembe name recorded above is
probably borrowed from the more general Swahili term for domesticated and other
cats (paka) – the retention of /k/ indicating that this is a comparatively recent
loanword in Bembe. OB described some ibimbulu as resembling leopards, while
others have coats with ‘white spots’. He also noted that they prey upon domestic
poultry. KB reported the behaviour, adding, however, that they are not common in
Kazinga. OB claimed that wild cats have disappeared from the hills behind Mtanga.
This suggests that they are more likely to be seen close to the national park
boundary. The Gombe Stream guide book does not list wild cats among the ‘larger
mammals’ to be found in the park, though it does include a number of smaller
carnivores.

Lion, Panthera leo

Ha: intambwe, 9/10
It appears that lions once frequented the national park and surrounding areas. In the
early 1960s Jane Goodall was told of a lion which had been chased away by four
chimpanzees wielding sticks. The source of this story was a ‘long dead relative’ of
Mbrisho, her elderly informant in Bubango (Goodall 1988: 41-42). More recently a
72 year old man in Bubango told LTBP researchers that lions were present in the
area when he first moved there in 1946 (Walsh et al. 1966: 2). This suggests that
lions disappeared sometime between the end of the Second World War and
Tanganyika’s independence. OB confirmed that lions were also present in Mtanga,
where they would prey upon bushpigs and sometimes people.

Leopard, Panthera pardus

Ha: ingwe, 9/10
Bembe : hangwe, 9/10
The Ha and Bembe names for the leopard are reflexes of a shared Bantu root. At
least one leopard has frequented the national park in recent years, though there have
been no sightings of late. KB reported that a leopard was known to have been

8
visiting Kazinga, but has since disappeared. This animal was never seen in the
vicinity of human habitation. Given the nocturnal habits and elusiveness of leopards,
it is quite possible that Gombe supports or lies within the range of a number of these
predators (cf. Murray 1992: 3).

Unidentified carnivores

[unidentified]
Bembe: me’e, 3/4
KB described this as a very common carnivore which lives within the Kazinga area
(i.e. it is not just a visitor from the park). mie’e prey upon domestic poultry,
especially during the dry season, and their method is to first seize the birds by their
tail feathers. Some of them are ‘red’ at the rear (and tail?). This is probably one or
more species of mongoose (at least four species occur in the national park).

[Order Proboscidae]

[African Elephant, Loxodonta africana

OB reported that elephants had never been seen in Mtanga or the surrounding area.]

Order Tubulidentata

Family Orycteropodidae: Aadvark

Aardvark, Orycterops afer

Ha: inyaga, 9/10
The Ha name for the aardvark (or ant bear) is cognate with names for the same
mammal in some West Tanzania languages (including Nyamwezi and Sukuma: cf.
Swynnerton 1946). OB described it as a large nocturnal animal which digs holes and
eats termites. Normally only its tracks are seen in the daytime, and from his
observation of these he deduced that it only has three claws on each foot. It is a long
time, however, since any sign of aardvarks has been seen in Mtanga, and they appear
to have disappeared. They are also absent from the list of mammals appended to the
Gombe guide book. OB recalled seeing one in the hills above Mtanga some time
before Tanganyika’s independence in 1961. This animal had been killed by a group
of Twa hunters from Burundi. Twa (abatwa, 1/2) is the Rundi and Ha name for
pygmies and/or similar aboriginal hunters (cf. Chubwa 1986: 13-14). According to
OB the Twa used to follow aardvarks into their burrows in order to kill them for
food.

Order Artiodactyla

Family Suidae: Pigs

Bushpig, Potamochoerus porcus

Ha: inguruwe, 9/10
Bembe: ngurube, 9/10

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The Ha and Bembe names for the bushpig are reflexes of a common Bantu root (also
Swahili nguruwe: the bushpig being called nguruwe mwitu to distinguish it from the
domesticated Sus scrofa). Bushpigs are said to be responsible for more crop damege
in Mtanga than any other mammal, with the exception of baboons. They attack both
root and grain crops at night. Two informants, KB at Kazinga and a woman in OB’s
household in central Mtanga, suggested that bushpigs generally raid from within the
national park. The latter expressed the opinion that they are less of a menace than
they were in the past (see above, under Chimpanzee). KB, however, reported that at
Kazinga they are as active as ever. Whereas baboons are a daily problem, bushpigs
only come in about one week in every two or three: and if they are driven away from
a farm with a lot of noise they will not reappear for two or three days. The Bembe
usually trap bushpigs with nooses made of manila string or fishing lines. Most
people in Kazinga eat pig meat, the main exceptions being members of Muslim
households (there are six Bembe and one Rundi Muslim households in the sub-
village). According to KB there is no local market in bushpig meat, nor is the meat
of any other wild mammal sold in Kazinga. The skin of dead bushpigs, like that of
baboons, has no local use and is thrown away.

Family Hippotamidae: Hippopotamuses

Hippopotamus, Hippopotamus amphibius

Bembe: eboko, 9/10 (?)
KB described hippopotamuses as occasional visitors from the Burundian lakeshore,
where they live (and are officially protected) in a river delta just north of the
boundary with Tanzania. They are most likely to travel south when the rains have
been particularly heavy (and presumably the river is flowing strongly). According to
other sources two hippopotamuses were killed in Kigoma in 1996: it may be that
they too had come from the north (the nearest population in the south is in the
Malagarasi delta).

Family Bovidae: Horned Ungulates

Subfamily Bovinae

African Buffalo, Syncerus cafer

Although buffaloes were present in the national park until relatively recently (they
were last recorded in the early 1980s, but subsequently eradicated by poaching:
Murray 1992: 3), OB reported that they have never been seen at Mtanga.

Bushbuck, Tragelaphus scriptus

Ha: impongo, 9/10
Bembe: lulungu, 9/10 (?)
Bushbucks (Swahili pongo) can still be seen in the hills above Mtanga. They are the
primary target for local hunters. According to OB, the Ha traditionally hunted them
(and other large mammals) with spears and dogs. These days they are often caught
in wire traps, also used to trap bushpigs. According to KB, the Bembe use both
spears and set noose-traps for bushbucks within the farming area. Hunting and

10
habitat destruction, however, seem to have severely dented the bushbuck population,
and those which now appear in Kazinga mostly come from inside the national park.
In the past bushbucks were abundant at Kazinga, and were caught and eaten almost
every week. Now they might only be seen once a year (not in any particular season),
and individual animals are killed and eaten only once every few years in the sub-
village. Information from other sources, however, suggests that bushbucks are not
quite so rare in the high hills, at least south of Kazinga. When available, bushbuck
meat is eaten by almost everyone, regardless of religion or ethnic group. There is
said to be a market for the meat in urban Kigoma, and it is reported that bushbucks
are poached inside the national park for commercial as well as subsistence purposes.
Other informants in Kazinga were quick to point out that these poachers do not come
from the sub-village itself, but are outsiders who raid the park from elsewhere.

Subfamily Cephalophinae

Common Duiker, Sylvicapra grimmia

Ha: ingelege, 9/10
Bembe: asha, 12/13
OB reported that there is still a population of Common Duikers (Swahili nsya) in the
hills above Mtanga – they are not just visitors from the national park. In the past a
lot of them were killed by hunters’ dogs: they are relatively easy to catch, and even
now groups of boys and youths chase and catch them by hand. KB said that duikers
are rarer than bushbucks at Kazinga: otherwise they are caught by the same methods
and the meat is eaten by the same wide range of people.

Unidentified ungulates

[unidentified]
[Ha: inzove, 9/10
OB described this as a bushbuck-like ungulate which is often seen in the vicinity of
swampy areas. It is, he said, not found in the Gombe-Mtanga area, at least at present
(did it occur in the past?). Haltenorth and Diller give ‘nzohe’ as a vernacular name
for the Sitatunga, Tragelaphus spekii (1980: 60); another possible candidate is the
Bohor Reedbuck, Redunca redunca (Swahili tohe).]

Order Pholidota

Family Manidae: Pangolins

Ground Pangolin, Manis temminckii

Ha: iyubi, 9/10
OB and other members of his household were unable to recall the Ha name for
pangolins (Swahili kakakuona) until it was given by other man who had joined the
discussion. The Ground Pangolin, also found in the national park, is said to prefer
cliffs and steeps slopes, and to go into hiding when disturbed by noise. One middle-
aged woman (who suggested at first that its Ha name was something like ‘ache’)
described how she had seen a pangolin at Kitibu when she was a child. She went on

11
to say that pangolins do not originate on earth, but come down from heaven: as a
result the appearance of a pangolin requires special ritual actions to be taken by local
‘experts’. She was unable, however, to elaborate any further. Her tantalising report
suggests a connection with the belief and practice of the Sangu of south-west
Tanzania, who give special ritual treatment to heaven-sent pangolins and the
individuals they are reputed to latch onto (treating both of them as though they were
the parents of twins before eventually sacrificing the pangolin and burying it like a
chief: for further details see Walsh 1995/96). Pangolins are certainly elusive, and
KB had no knowledge of their existence in Kazinga.

Order Rodentia

Family Hystricidae: Porcupines

Crested Porcupine, Hystrix cristata

Ha: inunguli, 9/10
Bembe: fumba, 9/10
An easily identified species, which is also recorded as being present in the national
park. It would be interesting to know whether the South African Porcupine,
H.africae-australis also occurs: the range of the two species overlaps in mid-
Tanzania. According to OB porcupines are found in caves on the hillsides: some Ha
eat them and some do not. KB reported that there were very few porcupines at
Kazinga. He also noted that their meat is very good, though they are not eaten a lot
by the Bembe (presumably because they are not easy to find). Bembe use porcupine
quills both for decoration and medicinal purposes. Porcupine ashes (obtained after
burning the animal) are also used by Bembe to treat burns.

Family Thryonomyidae: Cane Rats

Common Cane Rat, Thryonomys swinderianus

Ha: indezi, 9/10
The Ha name for this mammal, which was described as being ‘like a rat’ (Swahili
panya), is cognate with the proper name in Swahili (ndezi) and other Eastern Bantu
languages for the Common Cane Rat (cf. Swynnerton 1946). The park guide notes
the presence of this species in Gombe: it is possible that the Lesser Cane Rat,
T.gregorianus, also occurs in the area, and is described by the same Ha name. OB
noted that the indezi feeds upon grass (which cane rats indeed do) and is captured
and eaten by the Ha in Mtanga.

Unidentified rodents / insectivores

[unidentified]
Bembe: msuli, 1/2
Described as one of two kinds of ‘rat’ (Swahili panya) found in Kazinga: this is the
‘ordinary rat’, in other words the more common. This may be the most common rat
associated with human settlement, the Black Rat, Rattus rattus, or another species.
This rat is not eaten by the Bembe.

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[unidentified]
Bembe: chunge, 9/10
This was described as a second kind of ‘rat’ (Swahili panya) which leaves a smell
when it passes. Said to be present but not very common in Kazinga. The
imprecision of the Swahili term (at least in local usage) leaves open the possibility
that the Bembe name refers to a kind of shrew (insectivore) rather than a rodent.
This mammal is also not eaten by the Bembe.

[unidentified]
Bembe: si’a, 9/10
KB described this as a long-snouted, rat-coloured, mammal in the ‘rat family’
(Swahili jamii ya panya). It is found especially on farms in Kazinga, living
underground and burrowing under the soil to eat cassava tubers. He gave its
‘Swahili’ name as fukwe, which is cognate with the Nyaturu name for both
Stuhlmann’s Golden Mole, Chrysochloris stuhlmanni (an insectivore), and the
Silvery Mole-rat, Heliophobius argenteocinereus (a rodent). The Standard Swahili
term applied to both of these mammals is fuko (Swynnerton 1946). The Bembe term
therefore probably applies to either the golden mole (of which there is only one
species known in East Africa) and/or one or more species of mole-rat (Family
Bathyergidae). Some Bembe in Kazinga trap and eat them (the same people who
also eat baboons). They are caught either with noose-traps set over their burrows or
by building a kind of trap (called lukoko, ?9/10) which sends sticks and stones
crashing down on them when they emerge into the open.

Order Lagomorpha

Family Leporidae: Hares

? Cape Hare, Lepus capensis

Ha: ikarugwe, 9/10 (?)
Bembe: alulu, 12/13
The presence of hares (Swahili sungura), although not noted in the national park
guide, was confirmed by both principal informants. They are reported to be plentiful
at Kazinga, close to the park boundary, and also present on the hills further south. It
is possible that more than one species of hare / rabbit is found. Definite
identification of the species concerned, whether one or more, must await the
collection of specimens.

Conclusion

The above notes are largely based upon brief interviews with just two informants,
one Ha speaker and one Bembe speaker, and it is regretted that in the time available
it was not possible to widen the sample to include, among others, active hunters.
There are clearly many gaps which remain to be filled, and it is hoped that others will
be stimulated by reading this paper into taking up this task. Research at Gombe
Stream National Park has, quite understandably, been chimpanzee and other primate-

13
oriented; and there is evidently considerable scope for investigating other elements of
the park’s mammalian fauna, and its past and present history. The perceptions and
practices of the people living around the park are part and parcel of this history, and
will undoubtedly play an equally important role in its future. Ethnozoological
(including ethnomammalogical) research provides one route into these perceptions
and practices, and can contribute to our understanding of past and present
interactions between human and animal populations, as well as provide important
information for planning actions designed to ensure a sustainable future for both.

Acknowledgements
Special thanks are due to my two principal informants, Mzee Omari Bulio and Kamili
Barabara, for their hospitality and patience in answering my questions. I hope that I have
recorded and interpreted their words faithfully, and apologise in advance for any errors
which I may have made.

References

Bygott, D. 1992. Gombe Stream National Park. Arusha: Tanzania National Parks /
African Wildlife Foundation.

Chubwa, P. 1986 [1979]. Waha: Historia na Maendeleo [The Ha: History and
Development] (second edition). Tabora: TMP Book Department.

Davies, G. and Vanden Berghe, E. (eds.) 1994. Check-list of the Mammals of East
Africa. Nairobi: East Africa Natural History Society.

Goodall, J. 1988 [1971]. In the Shadow of Man (revised edition). Boston:

Houghton Mifflin.

Haltenorth, T. and Diller, H. 1980. A Field Guide to the Mammals of Africa

including Madagascar (trans. Robert W. Hayman). London: Collins.

Swynnerton, G. H. 1946. ‘Vernacular Names for Some of the Better-known

Mammals in the Central Province, Tanganyika Territory’, Tanganyika Notes and
Records, 21, 21-38.

Walsh, M. T. 1995/96. ‘The Ritual Sacrifice of Pangolins among the Sangu of

South-west Tanzania’, Bulletin of the International Committee on Urgent
Anthropological and Ethnological Research, 37/38, 155-170.

Walsh, M. T. 1997a. A Preliminary Glossary of Ha Plant Names: Ethnobotany in

and around Gombe Stream National Park, Western Tanzania. Kigoma: Lake
Tanganyika Biodiversity Project.

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Walsh, M. T. 1997b. Snakes and other Reptiles in Mtanga: Preliminary Notes on
Ha Ethnoherpetology in a Village bordering Gombe Stream National Park,
Western Tanzania. Kigoma: Lake Tanganyika Biodiversity Project.

Walsh, M. T., Said, L., Marwa, B. and Banister, K. 1996. Fish and Fishing in the
River Mungonya at Bubango, Kigoma District, Tanzania. Kigoma: Lake
Tanganyika Biodiversity Project.

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