Top African Tribes | The African People
Serengeti Mara Experts
Top African Tribes | The African People
Africa is indeed a cultural haven, colonized over 300 years ago, Africa is still culturally rich and diverse in its own ways.
Being the second largest continent in the entire world and the only continent spanning both the northern and southern hemisphere, Africa is 30.37 million square kilometers in size – this means United States of America is approximately 32.4% of Africa and the whole UK is merely 0.8% of Africa.
With 54 countries in Africa, African is definitely diverse, contributing to over 16% of the total world’s population.
With over 3000 unique tribes in Africa, we shall look at some exciting tribes that stand out.
Let’s get into the Top African tribes that turn ordinary safaris into something you’ll keep bringing up at dinners for years.
Two Maasai women pausing for a photo
Maasai – Kenya and Tanzania
You’ve seen them in postcards, probably without knowing who they were. The Maasai have been resisting modernity with quiet lifestyle for centuries. Tall, fearless, and often armed with nothing but a stick and stubbornness, they’re known for their cattle culture and minimal interest in colonizers. They don’t just dress the part—they live it.
There are just about 840,000 Masai living both in Tanzania and Kenya around the Masai Mara, Ngorongoro, Amboseli, Serengeti and the Tsavo national park areas.
The Maasai people may be visited by planning a Maasai village tour, here, you can expect traditional songs, some impressive jumping dances, and a polite reminder that you’re the guest. Language tip: “Sopa” means hello.
The maasai people are known for wearing the red shukas, spitting and drinking blood.
During your visit to the Maasai village, you may learn about the high jumping dance called – Adamu. This is a part of the initiation just right before a boy becomes an adult man. Accompanied with songs, many men will take turn to see who jumps the highest.
Himba – Namibia
You won’t confuse the Himba with anyone else. The Himba people are unique in their own ways. With their Red-ochre skin, braided hair sculpted with butterfat, and minimal clothing—mostly because the desert doesn’t offer AC.
With a total population of approximately 50,000, the Himba people can be found in the desolate Kunene region found in northeastern part of Namibia.
The Himba are one of the known hunter-gatherer and pastoralist lifestyle believed to have descended from the Herero of Angola.
They believe greatly in the holy fire known as the Okuruwo. Okuruwo via smoke symbolizes a deep connection with the Himba ancestors – who is indirect contact with their God Mukuru.
In a Himba village, the fire burns at the center of the village and it’s never allowed to burn out and each family has a fire-keeper whose job is to tend the sacred fire.
The daily life in a Himba family includes; women handling majority of the task such as cooking, gathering food, milking, raising children while men are involved in politics and take care of the livestock.
The traditional clan of the Himba is bilateral – meaning, every clan member comes from the clan of both the father and mother. Because of this lifestyle, the son lives with the father’s clan and so does the wife.
The Zulu people of South Africa
Zulu – South Africa
The Zulu is definitely the largest ethnic group in South Africa, with over 13million people, the Zulu – the speakers of isiZulu, have got history that goes way beyond Shaka Zulu of 19th Century and shield dancing.
Zulu villages welcome visitors who actually want to learn something. You’ll get rhythm, craft, and maybe a reminder that colonization did a number on culture.
The Zulu people are by far known for their incredible crafts, pottery skills among others. You can hardly find a true Zulu woman without beads. These beads are both decorative and functional.
If you need to explore the best of Zulu, a visit to cultural villages such as Shakaland in the Kwanzulu Natal is a great choice. Here, you will experience the Zulu culture firsthand; from traditional houses, dancing styles, pottery skills and beadworks.
San – Botswana, Namibia, South Africa
The San aren’t just one of the Top African tribes—they’re one of the oldest in the entire world (as far as culture and tradition goes). We’re talking Stone Age old. Known for their clicking language and insane tracking skills, the San were mapping deserts before anyone invented a compass.
Modern governments have pushed them into reserves, but a few groups still offer tracking walks however, the San’s lives is traditionally centered around hunting and gathering.
The San are widely-spread and can be found throughout South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The Sans have incredible hunting and tracking skills with keen abilities to identify the next place to find an hunt just by looking at their footprints.
The Sans recognize the existence of the highest supreme God while also acknowledging the existence of lesser and weaker gods. Homage is paid to the spirit of a deceased person.
The Karamojong people of Uganda dancing
The Karimojong
The Karimojong are a typically semi-nomadic pastoralist inhabiting the northeastern part of Uganda, found in the districts of Kabong, Napak, Moroto, Abim and Nakapiripirit. These nomads are known for their unique culture similar to that of the Maasai.
The Karamojong are descendants of Ngangatom from Ethiopia – a nomadic pastoralists who migrated around 1600AD in search of permanent pastures and grassland for their livestock.
They pledge allegiance to Akuj – their pastoral god whom they believe gave them birthrights to all cattle in the Karamoja region and beyond.
The lives of the Karimojong people resolves around cow, they take raw milk and blood obtained by puncturing cow. Other great diet for a typical Karamojong family is cow ghee, roasted meat, fresh meat, yoghurt and smoked hides.
These people live a communal lifestyle of extended families living in large homesteads called the manyattas. Each homestead is usually circled by woods and thorny fence to protect them from the cattle raiders and wild attacks.
When a Karimojong is ready for marriage, he will get married to an arranged girl. A day is set when the boy must show the community how strong he is to take care of the arranged woman. A wrestling contest is set and a bridegroom must wrestle down the bride otherwise, he isn’t ready for marriage.
Tanzanian Hadzabe people with a guest
The Tanzania’s Hadzabe
The Hadzabe, are indigenous hunter-gatherers and are unique, and only in Tanzania, in Lake Eyasi. There are only around 1300 Hadzabe people alive. The Hadzabe men hunt animals using three different kinds of bows and arrows and the female signature task is gathering.
Hadzaland is only 50 kilometers from Olduvai Gorge which is also referred to as the Cradle of mankind in reference to the proliferation of hominin fossils.
Hadzaland being 45 kilometers from the Laetoli footprints (which is believed to be the footprint of the first human ancestor) makes the Hadzabe a unique cultural haven worth exploration.
The Hadzabe are believed to be among the last hunter-gather people alive. Re-known for their best hunting and gathering skills, the Hadzabe purely on the neighboring savannah and woodland ecosystem for sustenance. This is where they gather the diverse range of food plants and conduct corporate hunting.
The Hadzabe speak a unique and rare language with a clicking sound. There is no language similar to Hanzabe.
You can always find the Hadzabe around Ngorongoro highlands, near Serengeti and incorporating a Hadzabe bushmen visit to your Serengeti or Ngorongoro safari is definitely rewarding.
South Sudanese Dinka men – Tallest men alive.
The Dinka People
The Dinka are a unique Nilotic ethnic group found primarily residing in South Sudan. The Dinka are known for their unique culture, language, and traditional practices, particularly their pastoral lifestyle centered around cattle herding.
The Dinka are one of the largest known ethnic groups in South Sudan and are also part of a larger diaspora population.
The most signature trait of the Dinka people is their height and dark skin. In fact, the Dinka and Tutsi people are the tallest tribes in Africa.
In the Dinka community, milking and taking care of cattle is primarily the kid’s jobs.
There are over 4.5million Dinka people living in South Sudan, this contributes to over 40% of the country’s population. The Muonyjang is a self-designation assigned to the Dinka people by themselves.
The Dinka ritualize the passage of boyhood to manhood through the old-age kind of ceremonies where the peers of the same age undergo hardships for the last time before they officially become men, abandoning all the hard tasks they used to endure such as milking of cows, servers of men among others.
Mursi people of Omo Valley
These Mursi people are the most known from Omo valley. With a unique mode of life, the Mursi women wear lip plates. Yes, it’s extreme. But it’s cultural, not cosmetic. Men herd cattle and train in stick fighting.
The Mursi speak Sumric language, that comes from the Nilo-Saharan language family.
The Mursi sustain their tradition through storytelling and oral teachings.
With just 8000, the most common practice by the Mursi people is, their women wearing the ornamental clay disk on their lower lips as a symbol of beauty and adulthood. This cut is then increasingly overextended over a series of months by inserting slightly larger clay disks each time, and each individual woman chooses how far to stretch their lip.
Recommended Safari packages
Tuareg – Sahara Desert
They’re known as the “blue people of the sahara” because of the traditional blue veils worn by their men. Tuareg people are part of the Berber ethnic group but have their own language, Tamasheq.
Tuareg society is traditionally stratified social settings, with different social classes and groups, including nobles, clergy, artisans, and laborers.
The Tuareg are generally monogamous and have a matrilineal system of inheritance. This makes them unique compared to many other groups from the Berber such as Arabs, kinsmen and other sub-Saharan people.
Xhosa – South Africa
You probably know them from the clicks. Xhosa speakers can layer five clicks into a sentence. Their traditional ceremonies mark stages of life with discipline and music. Nelson Mandela came from this group and yes, this is South Africa’s second largest ethnic group.
Traditionally, unmarried Xhosa women wear wraps around their shoulder leaving their breasts exposed and men wear animal skins.
Conclusion
There you have it. Above are just 10 of the Top African tribes out of the 3000 African tribes. Seeing them, speaking with them, hearing the songs and stories firsthand? That’s different. It changes how you perceive African people.
The more you connect with them in their local communities, the more you learn about them.
Next time you plan a trip to Africa, skip the brochure highlights. Visit the people who’ve been here far longer than any border and should you need any help figuring out where to start? Talk to an expert.
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