 | Kalenga Museum
 | Chief Mkwawa's skull
| Kalenga is a very historical village, this was the headquarters of Chief Mkwawa,the place from where he commanded the whole of Hehe region. His official residence and military base were inside a stone fort called Lipuli. Chief Mkwawa's fortress was 12 feet high and eight miles long. The fort was built for four years, it is estimated that it was started in 1887at a time when Chief Mkwawa knew about German activities near the coast.Chief Mkwawa got the idea from seeing other stone forts in Unyamwezi or the building of Arabs and Europeans near the coast. When you visit Kalenga, you will find a small museum housing Chief Mkwawa's skull. The museum is also decorated with his weapons including clubs, spears, shields and guns. Outside the museum there are two tombs, there is a tomb of Chief Sapi Mkwawa the throne successor and that of Chief Adam Sapi Mkwawa the grandson of Chief Mkwawa. About 500 meters from the museum you will find a tomb with a small monument. The tomb holds the body of Commander Erich Maas. Commander Erich Maas was shot dead by one of the Hehe soldiers during hours of hand-to-hand fighting when Germans managed to break into the fort. The mission to destroy Kalenga started on October 28th, 1894 from Lugulu hill. The Germans bombarded Kalenga from Lugulu hill for two days, the Hehe fought hard to resist the German onslaught. But on 30th October the Germans managed to enter Mkwawa's fort (Lipuli) and engaged the Hehe with a bayonet. In the ensuing melee Mkwawa walked away from the fighting and Kalenga fell.The Germans had taken possession of the fort. They examined it, destroyed the weapon store, and removed some ivory and guns. The Germans hoped that destruction of the fort would be enough to make Chief Mkwawa come to terms.Once more they attempted to negotiate with him, but the Hehe continued to attack the Germans. Both German and Hehe descriptions of the Kalenga fort emphasize Chief Mkwawa's great wealth, his store of ivory, gun-powder and cloth, and his great herds and many wives. Germans destroyed 30,000lbs of gun-powder at Kalenga, and they were very impressed by Chief Mkwawa's ivory stores, which contained only a part of the ivory he possessed. On June 19th 1954 at Kalenga, fifty six years to the day of Chief Mkwawa's death, Sir Edward Twining the then Governor of Tanganyika handed over his skull to Chief Adam Sapi Mkwawa from the German government. The return of Chief Mkwawa's skull was in accordance to the Versailles Treaty June 28, 1919 : Part VIII Article 246. |
