Dancing on air
“With a good seven hours’ drive ahead of us, we discovered, to our horror, that a pipe had ruptured and oil was leaking from our vehicle’s underbelly. So we had no choice but to make the perilous journey through the Zambian bush in search of the nearest human habitation. By chance, we came across a small town called Chizela, where, thankfully, we found assistance. Sitting by the roadside, I could hear some distant commotion approaching. Then to our utter bemusement, three people appeared, followed by a procession of cheering children, dancing their way past us… It was a miniature version of a Makishi masquerade, which is performed at the end of the Mukanda, an annual initiation ritual for boys aged between eight and 12, celebrated by certain tribes of western and north-western Zambia.”