Back in the day, Chiengi was the only only BOMA (British Overseas Military Administration) closed down because of witchcraft or more accurately because nobody wanted to be there.
Chiengi District is right at the north-eastern tip of Zambia on Lake Mweru, bordering Congo DR. It is inhabited by the Bwile people.
In Luapula and Northern Provinces, Chiengi and Mununga have a diabolical reputation of harbouring the most powerful witches, wizards and sorcerers and evil little demons called utuyebela and utumbuma which take up residence in homes spreading nightmares and mischief.
Witchcraft, superstition and the supernatural are commonplace.
The witches and wizards of both Mununga and Chiengi are considered the most dangerous in Luapula province with the Chiengi denizens considered the more dangerous.
The number of outsiders who died in mysterious circumstances in Chiengi is numerous. In recorded history the first to die after passing through Chiengi was Portuguese explorer and doctor, Francisco de Lacerda. 
He is reputed to have become sick in Chiengi before dying in mysterious circumstances in 1798 in Kazembe’s kingdom south of Chiengi.
In the district lies the feared village of Mununga coined the heardquarters of witchcraft. Legend has it that the most powerful witches and wizards in the region have an annual coven once a year at the equinox at midnight.
Protective charms are common-place. The evidence of this belief in protective charms is always found by C5 when they gun down bandits. They have been found adorned with charms and tattoos.
Chiengi has an unenviable record during British Colonial occupation that bears close examination
Chiengi, the ‘haunted boma’ on Lake Mweru, gained an evil reputation after many unexplained deaths, trauma and madness.
Chiengi was first established as a Boma by the British in 1895 when Sir Harry Johnstone, based in Based in Blantyre sent two agents, Kidd and Bainbridge to create a fort to strengthen British presence in the area and keep the Belgians out.
One man after another died at the British Boma in Chiengi, not only from natural causes but also mysteriously.
As a result the Boma was closed down during World War 1 between 1914 and 1918. It was reopened after the war and and again Chiengi began claiming “Bwana Victims.” At least two had nervous breakdowns.
A newly appointed District commissioner, Reardon and his wife went insane and were shipped of to an asylum. It was rumoured that they had a dispute with a local chief who bewitched them
In 1927, GH Morton, another DC, reported seeing ghosts. He displayed madness and was sent to a Cape Town asylum.
His replacement in 1929, GH Hoare, fell seriously ill and died delirious with blackwater fever screaming of ghosts.
District commissioners who were sent there kept dying.
After all the deaths, nervous breakdowns and madness they closed Chiengi for good. The official report put all the casualties down to malaria and blackwater fever. Chiengi was only reopened as a district in 1996 after 63 years. A sub-boma had been opened in 1973.
Chiengi even had a vicious man eating lion, called Chiengi Charlie that had lost half its tail and was possibly an albino lion because the locals called it a "White Lion"
Chiengi Charlie has been recorded as one of the most deadliest man-eating lions in history
This lion terrorised Chiengi and the hinterland near Lake Mweru in the decade between 1900 and 1910.
The locals insisted it was inhabited by an evil spirit because of its cunning and apparent intelligence. Even the most experienced great white hunters failed to kill Chiengi Charlie and a legend was born.
For a long time, attempts to hunt down Charlie failed. On one occasion he leapt into the courtyard of Sealy, the District Officer’s house, but escaped before Sealy could get in a shot.
Efforts to bring Chiengi Charlie’s reign of terror to an end intensified with villagers sleeping around fires and keeping watch all night and yet Chiengi Charlie just kept on killing and mauling.
The lion was stealthy, fast and fearless and broke through the thatched roofs or mud walls, smashed down doors and on occasion simply walked straight into huts with open doors during the day.
Eventually, Chiengi Charlie was joined by two other lions and the mayhem they caused almost threatened to destroy the local fishing trade. Many villagers fled the district.
It was reported to have killed and eaten over 100 people in one year including the gunbearer of a white hunter who he savagely mauled before killing his servant.
Only one person successfully fought off Chiengi Charlie and was in turn regarded with awe. A woman was sleeping in her hut when Charlie smashed his way in. With great bravery she picked up a burning fire brand and whacked Charlie in the face. He turned on his half tail and fled.
Eventually a professional hunting team of British and Belgians backed by villagers managed to corner Charlie and shot him dead with the villagers spearing him for good measure. His two sidekicks vanished, never to be seen again.
When the hunters talked to the villagers they discovered that he was actually not Charlie but CHALI.
The British administrators had mispronounced the name. It was believed that Chiengi Charlie harboured the restless spirit of an evil wizard called CHALI who had been killed by villagers a long time ago.
58 years after independence, you will not find a place with such an evil reputation as Chiengi in Zambia
Credit: ZambianEye, Zambian Observer, Brian Mulenga
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