The nine sub-tribes of Kenya The Mijikenda tribe are a Kenya coastal Bantu tribe that consists of nine closely related sub-tribes.

In the past, the Mijikenda tribe was also referred to as the Nyika tribe, a near-derogatory term implying bush people.

The “Mijikenda” literally means nine homes or nine homesteads(in Swahili), pointing to the common ancestry of the Mijikenda people. The nine Mijikenda sub-tribes believe to be nine different homes of the same tribe. Each sub tribe speaks its own dialect of the Mijikenda language.

Among the nine Mijikenda tribes, the Giriama and the Digo are the most well known, most populous and therefore most dominant along the Kenya coast. The other seven sub-tribes are Chonyi, Duruma, Jibana, Kambe, Kauma, Rabai and Ribe. It’s very common of other Kenya tribes to refer to all Mijikenda people simply as Giriama.

Mijikenda origin and History

Mijikenda oral history traces their origin to the Southern Somalia regions. It is believed that the Mijikenda people escaped constant attacks from the Oromo and other Cushitic tribes, and settled in the coastal ridges which were easier to defend.

Historically, the Mijikenda have had close interactions with the Persian, Arab, and Portuguese traders who frequented the Kenyan coast, home to the Mijikenda people. This interaction and subsequent intermarriage with the Arabs gave birth to the Swahili culture and the Swahili language. As a result, the Swahili language, Kiswahili bears a close lexical similarity with all dialects of the Mijikenda people.

Culture & Religion

The Mijikenda culture revolves around clans and age-sets. A Mijikenda clan consists of several family groups which have a common patriarchal ancestor. Traditionally, each such clan lived in one fortified village built in a cleared area in the forested ridges. Within the clan, a persons age-set determined their role and standing in society. There were often very elaborate rituals for graduating from one age-set to another.

Each Mijikenda clan had their own sacred place known as kaya, a shrine for prayer, sacrifices and other religious rituals. These kayas were located deep in the forests and it was considered a taboo to cut the trees and vegetation around them. The kaya elders, often members of the oldest age-set, were deemed to posses supernatural powers including ability to make rain.

Like other Kenya tribes, Mijikenda people have today assimilated modern cultural practices, causing the fading of many of their traditional customs. Most Mijikenda people are now either Christians or Muslims. Some however still practice their traditional culture, or a mixture of Christianity or Islam with their traditional religion. Islam is more widespread among the Digo than in the other Mijikenda sub tribes.

The Mijikenda Kaya Forests

Owing to the kaya taboo, the forest regions around the Mijikenda Kayas remained untouched for a long time, thus preserving many rare or endangered plant species. More recently however, people started destroying these kaya forests to make way for agriculture, building and tourism activities. This forced the government and conservation agencies to institute measures for protecting the biological diversity found in these kayas, by declaring them national monuments.

Mijikenda economic activities

Agriculture is the main economic activity of the Mijikenda people. Their most important cash crop is the coconut palm, whose products include its oil extracts, palm wine, and the fronds used for roofing and as material for making baskets, mats, brooms and other weaved products.

Mijikenda tribe coconut tree farm

Other important cash crops include cashew nuts, oranges and mangos. Where favorable weather conditions allow, some Mijikenda people also grow such annual crops as maize, sorghum, millet, and beans.

Fishing is the other important economic activity of the Mijikenda. Mijikenda people actively fish in the neighboring Indian Ocean, where their “daily catch” forms part of the supply of sea food to Kenya coast hotels and residents along the Kenya coast.

Mijikenda Food

The Mijikenda, and more particularly the Digo, are considered some of the best cooks among the Kenya tribes. One Kenya food, a staple of the Mijikenda tribe is wali, that is rice prepared with coconut milk, giving it a sweet taste. Fish and other seafood also form part of Mijikenda cuisine.

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Facts About The Samburu Tribe

Population 147,000 (1994 I. Larsen BTL). Population includes 128,000 Samburu, 19,000 Chamus.

Region Samburu District, and south and east shores of Lake Baringo , Baringo District, Rift Valley Province (Chamus).

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The Taita tribe The Taita people are a Bantu tribe living in the Taita Hills, on the South West of Kenya near the border with Tanzania and the surrounding plains.

What is known as the Taita tribe actually consists of three closely related tribes: Wadawida (or Taita), Wasaghala (Sagalla) and Wataveta (Taveta).
The languages of these three tribes have a close similarity with each other and with the Swahili language.

The languages also bear some similarity with the language spoken by the Chagga people of Tanzania. The Wadawida are the most populous of the three tribes, numbering about 300,000 as of the last population census.

The beautiful Taita hills

The Taita hills consist of three main hills: Dawida, Saghala, and Kasighau. Dawida is by far the most massive, fertile, and densely populated ares of the Taita tribe. The Wadawida living on the slopes of this hill practice different forms of agriculture, with the bulk of the food they produce being sold to the residents of Coast Province, especially Mombasa town.

Red-skinned elephants in Tsavo West National Park

On the plains surrounding Taita hills lies the expansive Tsavo West National Game park. Before Tsavo was gazetted as a national game reserve, these plains were important game hunting grounds for the Taita tribe.

History of the Taita tribe

Historians believe that Taitas migrated from Central Africa alongside other Bantu tribes, coming into present day Kenya from the south through Shungwaya before finally settling in the fertile Taita hills. The hills provided the Taita refuge from raids and attacks by the neighboring Maasai tribe.

Culture & Lifestyle

Taita people have today assimilated many western values such that most of their traditional cultures have faded away. Traditionally, one of the most important aspects of Taita tribe culture was male circumcision. Circumcision was considered an important ritual in training young boys normally aged between 7 and 11 years to take more adult responsibilities. Traditional circumcision no longer takes place in most parts of Taita, with many parents opting to have the operation done in a hospital.

One very unique Taita culture is the respect accorded to the dead. In the past, when a person died, they’d be buried, then after a period of about one year their body would be exhumed and the skull severed from the rest of the body and taken to a sacred cave, their “proper” abode with the ancestors. While this is no longer practiced today, the caves where skulls of long dead people are still found are treated as sacred in many parts of Taita.

Taitas and music

Traditionally, the Taita people liked expressing themselves in music. They had many interesting forms of traditional dances, the most fascinating of which was the pepo spirit-possession dances called Mwazindika. This and other traditional dances have since died off and are only performed during national holidays. Members of the Taita tribe are however still very talented musically. The late Fadhili Williams of the hit song Malaika was one of the many recent Taita musicians.

Faith & Religion

Today, most Taita people are Christians, though there is a considerable number of Muslims. Taita traditional religion revolved around the spirits of the ancestors. While Taitas believed in one supreme god, Mlungu, this god was only called upon, and given sacrifices for appeasement or thanksgiving in times of calamities and misfortunes such as droughts, locust invasions, barrenness, and famine. In “normal” times, sacrifices were made to the ancestors or household gods, milimu. Only very few Taitas still practice their traditional religious faith.

Economic Activities of Taita people

Being an agricultural society in a fertile land, most Taitas practice agriculture as the main economic activity. Horticultural production has recently become an important economic activity in Taita hills. Taitas also rear dairy cattle and produce most of the milk supplied in other parts of Coast province. They also grow coffee.

Gemstone mining is primarily done in the drier parts of Taita land, which have large deposits of precious stones such as Ruby, Tanzanite and Garnets.

Taita staple food

The traditional diet of the Taita consisted of bananas, pumpkins, cassava, beans, sweet potatoes, cow-peas, and millet. Occasionally, this diet would be supplemented with game meat hunted from the plains.

However, when they started growing maize (corn) and after the government’s restriction on hunting, ugali and green cooked vegetables, especially cabbage, is now the staple food. Kimanga (a mashed combination of beans plus either cassava, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, or bananas) is still a traditional taita delicacy prepared during special occasions, and accompanied by mbangara, a taita traditional drink made out of sugarcane, corn or cassava

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Turkana tribe is the second largest pastoral community in Kenya. This nomadic community moved to Kenya from Karamojong in eastern Uganda.

The Turkana tribe occupies the semi Desert Turkana District in the Rift valley province of Kenya. Like the Maasai and tribes, Turkana people keeps herds of cattle, goats and Camel . Livestock is a very important part of the Turkana people. Their animals are the main source of income and food. However, recurring drought in Turkana district adversely affect the nomadic livelihood.

Like the Maasai and Samburu, the Turkana people are very colorful. Turkana people adorn themselves with colorful necklace and bracelets. Their decorations are made of red, yellow and brown colored beads. Cattle’s rustling is common in Turkana district and round its border with Uganda, Sudan and Ethiopia. Tribes inhabiting this area are often involved in tribal fights for livestock and water. Cattle’s rustling has been a common phenomenon for many decades and appears to be a sort of cultural game for the nomadic communities living in parts of the Rift valley and its surroundings. With the proliferation of small arms, cattle’s rustling has become more dangerous and the Kenyan government has intervened in solving the problem.

With a population population of about 250,000 people, the Nilotic language speaking Turkana people have successfully maintained their tradition compared to other tribes in Kenya. Turkana men cover their head with mud, which is then painted blue and decorated with ostrich and other feathers. The main garment for the Turkana people is a woolen blanket. The type of attire worn by a woman is determined by her marital status. Body tattooing was traditionally used to indicate achievement in the community. Men or warriors who killed enemies were tattooed to indicate what they have done for the community. Most of people in Turkana tribe adhere to traditional beliefs while 5 to 15% are Christians .



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Facts About The Meru Tribe
Population 1,305,000 (1994 I. Larsen BTL). Population includes 540,000 Meru, 26,400 Igoji (1980 Berne and M

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