Kalenga Village & Museum

Kalenga, is one of the historical village of Iringa and residence of the great Mtwa Mkwawa, Chief of the Hehe Tribe.

There is a small museum with the skull of Chief Mkwawa, who was defeated by the Germans during the colonial time. The skull was given back by the Germans after many decades of keeping it.

There are also to see the ruins of Mkwawa's fort which was destroyed by the Germans after they were almost defeated by the locals using Tosamaganga strategy, which means throwing stones.

Tour

HISTORY

The village was fortified by a 5km long and 4mt high wall. Although the museum would need careful maintenance, it houses a number of interesting findings and anecdotes about the Chief Tribe, who is famous for the strenuous resistance he opposed to the German invaders.

Colonel Freiherr Friedrich von Schele managed to conquer the fortress of Mkawawa, located in the village of Kalenga, only on October 28, 1894 but he had to wait until the month of July 1898 to definitively eradicate the bloody guerrilla organized by the heroic leader.

The Chief, indeed, resisted for another 4 years and preferred to commit suicide, rather than fall prisoner of his enemy. The head of the chief was sent to Germany and only returned in 1956.