I was once asked to explain where my kennel prefix came from. When we decided to get our first Ridgeback it was not an idle decision, I had been fascinated by the breed since I at the age of 10 got a big book about dogs and when the family moved to Zambia in 1991 we knew that we would need a dog and that it should be a Rhodesian Ridgeback. We also wanted a purebred puppy as we wanted to take her h
ome. Even though Zambia is the former Northern Rhodesia, it was not simple to get hold of a good quality puppy and through Margaret Wallace I ended up 1200 kms from home, in Harare with Linda Costa kennel Sarula. To cut a long story short, even having identified a good breeder (and I still cant get over the luck of finding this particular breeder) getting a puppy all the way out to Bulozi in Western Zambia was not simple and it took well over a year before we could travel to pick our puppy. That year gave me ample time to dream about the future and living in the old kingdom of Barotseland (now Bulozi) I was inspired by the many institutions and businesses named after the king Lewanika who ruled at the time of the big game hunters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewanika) and decided that IF I ever got as far as wanting a kennel name it should be Lewanika, to honor the old African kingdom and the breed's deep connection to Africa and its turbulent history. It took quite a few years more, but finally in 1998 I could put this prefix on my first litter.
