The two main groups of Lungu have been distinct and separate throughout their brief remembered histories and there is no record of their collaborating in any common effort against the Bemba.
The oldest of the sisters, Mukulu Mwenya, settled at Mbete along Lake Tanganyika in the present day Mpulungu District.
As custom demanded, he drunk umwavi a deadly poison, so that if he died then he was deemed guilty but if he vomited and survived then he was innocent.
In the 1860s the minor Chief Chungu I, became Tafuna III, but he had difficulty maintaining his position at Isoko, the royal capital and by 1867 he had moved west to settle on the Lifubu river.
Instead in about 1870, another Lungu royal Kakungu, obtained help from Tippu Tip and in the face of local opposition set himself up at Isoko as Tafuna IV.
While most of the Bemba force went on into Fipa country, Chitapankwa and his son Makasa IV were provoked by Zombe into attacking his village along the Lucheche river.
They underestimated their opponent Zombe who held out under siege; he was eventually relieved by Chitimbwa and Kasonso: and together the Lungu Chiefs routed Chitapankwa.
Chitapankwa's elder brother Mwamba II had refused to join the campaign, and when he heard of the Bemba defeat, he was so shocked he threatened to rebel.
The Bemba's used a decoy with great success and inflicted a crushing defeat, they claim that Zombe was killed and his village razed to the ground.
[7] Earlier in the 1860s, the Lungu were part of a large Ngoni led force along with the Mambwe, Inamwanga and Iwa that defeated the Bemba at Manga in which they killed Mukukamfumu Kasonde II, a sister of Chtapankwa's and captured her daughter Chimbabantu, Makasa himself had already fled.
Wissmann, who was directing an anti-slavery campaign between Lakes Malawi and Tanganyika had with him a force of two other officers and sixty trained soldiers; he also had a cannon and a Maxim gun.
During the night of 6 July while the Germans kept watch within, the Bemba fired a few shots at Nondo's stockade, an act of provocation from which Makasa vainly tried to desuade Sampa.
The Lungu are divided into a number of exogamous, dispersed patrilineal clans (Umwiko), nearly all of which are prefixed by the syllable 'Si' (Father of) for males and 'Na' (Mother of) for females.
They also have various artists such as Kalambo Hit Parade, Solo Kalenge and Esther Namunga who perform Mambwe Lungu traditional music.
In olden days the designate Chief was required to cross the strip of water between lake Tanganyika and the sacred Mbita island while holding on to two canoes.
[12] This is a traditional ceremony of the Mambwe and the Lungu of Tafuna, it is conducted to celebrate a successful harvest and to pray for rains for the next farming season.