wild pigs,gazelles etc but the most preferred were Crocodiles and Hippopotamus.
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| Rhinoceros |
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| Crocodile |
Today l will talk about how they hunted Hippos.. l would like to thank my cousin Mr Edward Yesse who is the main contributor to this article.
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| hippopotamus |
A) Weapons and preparation
The Pokomo's used iron blades o made weapons which made them Kings of the river Tana and the surrounding lakes e.g. Shakababo,Kongolola,and others to mention a few. This practice has been carried on up to the late 19 th century.A group of hunting expedition was called "Maalate"The older people decided in advance where to go for hunting.
People sharpened their hunting spears called "Mafumo". They checked both their quavers to ensure the arrows were in good shape, they also checked the strings of their bows to ensure they were intact.
They sharpened their big knives, and even the long sheathed spears called "Ntsoma were sharpened too.
Once ready they were kept somewhere safe ready for the great hunting expedition.
No woman was supposed to pass over the weapons from the time they were stored as they believed that if a woman passed over such weapons,they would be rendered ineffective during and before a hunting expedition began.
A man whose wife is pregnant was usually discouraged to join the expedition and if he does so he is not allowed to speak. He would use gestures as the Pokomo believed that if he spoke while hunting this would make the Hippopotamus very aggressive and create danger to the hunters.
A medicine man would be called to expel all evil from the land and to make sure no unforeseen dangers befell the hunters.
The hunting expedition started very early in the morning at the first cock- crow. Most times it would take them days before they would come back to their villages.
Men of all levels would come from far and wide some from nearby Villages and others from very far and would all gather together for this adventurous event.
Young people took the lead in order to clear up the due by beating the grass with sticks as they walked.
Individual hunters carried food which was mainly bananas,rice or banana cakes, etc as it would take them days to come back.
The Men would divide themselves in groups ...each canoe would be carrying six or eight or even ten strong men depending on the size of the Canoe. Each man would be carrying his spear, a sword and a knife.
While some were in the Canoes others would organize themselves on Land just in case the Hippopotamus would try to escape.
B)Hunting
Hunting was quite thrilling, once the animal is identified the Hunters squatted in the canoes and paddled towards the animal they would try to surround the Hippopotamus ready with their weapons: the Long- sheathed Spears, hunting spears, small axes, knives etc. The people paddling the Canoes must be experts. They were the ones who paddled either towards or away from the animal.They ensured a good attacking sight for the hunters and guided the Canoes to safety where there was danger of being attacked. The Hunters were always alert as wounded Hippos were very dangerous.
As l mentioned earlier The Pokomo's believed that a Hippo could smell a man whose wife was pregnant and that the two were natural enemies. Such men were therefore placed in the middle of the parties where " The Hippo could not smell them easily", thereby preventing disaster.
So when a Hippo is sighted, it was surrounded by the hunters. They threw their weapons at the animal. The first to spear the Hippo was said to be the killer and was entitled to wear the tail of the Hippo round the neck.The dead animal was pulled to the shallow water and shared equally among the hunters present.The killer got a bigger chunk of meat.
The medicine man and the council of elders also got a share of the animal even though they would not have necessarily accompanied the hunting expedition. Usually only one animal would not be enough, they would try to get at least two or more so as to get enough meat for all. And that is the reason the Hunters would spend days before going back to their Villages.
