The people who currently identify themselves as Basimba or BaShimba for many and Musimba or MuShimba for singular are a Bantu speaking community in Uganda. Before the 13th century they maintained a shared identity as Basimba, also defined in Swahili as "big lion," associated with either these people or the place which they came from. The name Basimba or BaShimba (also known as the big Lion) was applied to the whole group by the early Ovambo people as a nickname for the leopard totem Clan people also known as bena Ngo in Zambia and in Uganda as abe Ngo.