Bende is the middle belt of Abia and one of the state's two colonial divisions: Ndi Bende, the people of the old Bende Division of the Owerri Province, whose towns include Bende itself, Item, Igbere, Alayi, Ozuitem and Uzuakoli. The division's courts, schools and mission stations made it one of the most recorded parts of the present state. Alayi is known for pottery, a women's craft of a very old kind; Uzuakoli carries the memory of the Methodist mission's leprosy settlement and research centre and the college that grew beside it; and the 1929 tax protest that became the Women's War began inside the division, at Oloko. The masquerade and the festival year are kept as they are across Igbo land, with Iri ji, age grades and wrestling, and the photographs in this gallery are from a Bende cultural festival. Photographs, via Wikimedia Commons: A masquerade at a Bende cultural festival - Peddykal, CC BY-SA 4.0. A chief in Bende - Peddykal, CC BY-SA 4.0. Licences: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
What to see
Alayi and its pottery
The town known for pottery, a women's craft of a very old kind.
Uzuakoli
The town that carries the memory of the Methodist mission's leprosy settlement, its research centre and the college that grew beside it.
Oloko
The community where the counting of women that began the Women's War started, in about October 1929.
The Bende festival year
The round of masquerade, Iri ji, age-grade ceremony and wrestling that the towns of the division keep.
Its address is /tourism/bende on www.buzzbuntu.com.