The history of Kisiizi Falls is deeply intertwined with the cultural practices of the Bakiga people, ("people of the mountains"), who traversed modern day northern Rwanda and southern Uganda, with some claiming they are part of the Hutu people of Rwanda, though the Bakiga maintain they are a separate people. Before missionaries arrived preaching Christian values (particularly the Church of Uganda), the falls held a grim significance for generations within Bakiga traditions, acting as a place of severe punishment and social ostracism. In a society that highly valued patrilineal lineage and strict moral codes, particularly concerning female chastity, an unmarried girl who became pregnant brought immense shame upon her family and clan. The traditional consequence for such a transgression was tragically severe: she would be led to the precipice of Kisiizi Falls and thrown to her death as an "act of cleansing" (although the boys who got the girls pregnant in the first place went, as seemingly ever, unscathed. This is explained by the fact a pregnant girl might name an innocent boy as the putative father, leading to his death, leaving the real father unscathed.) This brutal practice, though horrifying to modern sensibilities, was a desperate measure intended to uphold societal order, deter pre-marital sex, and preserve the perceived honour of the community, serving as a chilling reminder of the unforgiving nature of certain cultural norms in a bygone era.