Or as they are also called - Walumbe burrows.
They are located in Uganda on Tanda Hill. More than 200 strange, very carefully made holes from 3 to 70 meters deep.
Who made them and why is not clear.
According to local legends, the sky god Gulu was angry at the essence of death Valumba and threw him to the ground. But even this was not enough for him. He sent his brother Kaikuzi after Valumba to destroy this same Valumba.
However, don't be a fool, he dived into the ground. Kaikuzi followed him. Valumba dived, dived again. So they played catch-up until Kaikuzi got bored.
As a result, death remained on earth among people. And these mysterious holes appeared in the hill.
Ufologists believe that this is the result of the landing of aliens and the testing of secret weapons during a visit to Earth.
Scientists believe that these are traces of mining.
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A very, I must say, dubious version, given that nothing useful in the vicinity has never been found. Yes, plus the incredible laziness of the local population, it seems genetically incapable of doing such even things in solid soil.
These are the mysterious holes of Valumba.
Local residents are sure that the spirits of other gods have settled in the holes made by death.
Therefore, they formed numerous sanctuaries here. Sorcerers constantly hold their witchcraft sessions here, and all sorts of weak people flock here from all over Uganda in the hope of a miracle.
So they sit all day in this small settlement. Under the trees, next to the houses. Waiting for miracles.
They constantly smoke homemade cigarettes on elegant long mouthpieces. And it is not tobacco smoke that hovers over all this. And everyone's faces are so mysterious, mysterious. As mysterious as the death holes themselves.
They say that many travelers who have been here experienced unreasonable fear and horror, panic attacks.
I won't say about fear and horror, but everyone experienced a slight panic,
when we were told that it is possible to move around the territory where the burrows are located only barefoot. Without desecrating with shoes that trampled on ordinary earth, sacred lands.
We didn’t know then that sick people from all over Uganda came to this Valyumba.
We just looked around and somehow became sad.
As an alternative, we were offered these wooden slips.
From whom they were removed, we preferred not to think. And even tried it on.
But then they decided that there would not be two deaths, one - not to be avoided. And modern medicine generally works wonders, especially in the field of skin diseases. And we decided to go barefoot.
In houses without doors and next to houses, leaning against their walls, people were sitting, smoking something.
Seeing our interest in them in the form of aimed cameras, the guide immediately said that you should never take pictures of people.
Everything around is possible. And people - no, no.
It's a pity, a pity … Such picturesque faces were there.
We'll get back to houses and people a bit later. And even look inside.
In the meantime, we go to those sanctuaries and death holes.
The excursion was led by a local resident who spoke a lot, but in some local dialect.
The translator was our driver, who spoke English at the everyday level, but clearly did not plan to earn money as a guide.
As a result, for the five-minute speech of our guide, he gave something like: "This is a pit."
Therefore, I had to use the knowledge gleaned on the Internet and think out something on our own along the way.
What the locals do well with is iron.
Everything around is literally permeated with such products.
As far as we understand, these gizmos are not manufactured around here. It would be strange if something was made in this place, permeated with witchcraft and rituals.
It seems that those thirsting for healing bring them on their own.
These are rods-amulets that surround sanctuaries, burrows and bonfires, so that the spirits that dwell there do not come out and take possession of someone.
Amulets are apparently made according to some specially designed pattern.
However, not everyone follows the pattern. See what an exhibition of wonderful crafts.
But it's time to move on to the very holes for which all the fuss.
There are indeed holes. A lot of them. They are different. From very neatly worked to some almost overgrown pits.
Some are named after the spirits hiding there.
Part - covered with some kind of rag sheets. To make sure the perfume doesn't come out.
And this, apparently, is proof of a miraculous healing.
The chair was abandoned as unnecessary.
It's time for us to go to the house of the chief sorcerer. See how the healing process takes place.
In the house of the sorcerer, it is twilight, trays with gifts for perfume and all the same smell of non-tobacco smoke.
And people waiting to be healed.
And here, while we were sitting, we were told that every day all the most sick with various diseases come here. Literally in an hour, a big daily ritual will begin, so gradually more and more sick people gather in the village.
At this point, everyone somehow quickly wanted to leave the house. Half and decided to stop the tour.
We walked to another sanctuary.
Some completely incomprehensible things near the fire.
But we did not even specify what they are for. And so it is clear that they are very magical.
The tree has many, many different clay pots. They say that these are sacrificial jugs. They are brought to the gods when asked for children.
For how many children are asked - so many necks at the jug.
And also in this tree there is a magic hollow. This hollow goes to the very ground and continues in a burrow. If you put money there, it will fall right into the hands of the perfume.
Only the main thing is not to shove your hands into the hollow. To prevent the spirits from being dragged away.
Naturally, I immediately decided to check how deep the hollow goes. Alas, if you put your hand there, it immediately became clear that after 10 centimeters the hollow ends. And the money left to the spirits will apparently be transferred in some other way.
We are such mistrustful tourists.
Something was not enough for us to finally be imbued with the spirit of the Valumbe holes. We were of course offered to smoke a magic local pipe. But somehow we immediately refused, deciding that we already had enough magic.
And the word Valumba with us became abusive until the end of the trip. So they said: "And this is generally some kind of currency."