Kenya Tribes
The ethnic tribes of Kenya
Comprising of 42 Kenya tribes, the country is diverse and rich in culture and heritage. The tribes of Kenya are each uniquely known for their history, culture, values, lifestyle, language, religion, food and more. Most visitors who have been to Kenya easily recall the Maasai tribe and their close kin, the Samburu people, for the fact that Kenya tourism has made maasai and Samburu tribe the most famous tribes due to their long preserved culture. By resolutely clinging to their traditions, the Maasai and Samburu have remained one of the few cohesive and culturally authentic ethnic tribes of Kenya. They are thus recognized world wide as a symbol of Kenya culture and are a favorite with the tourists.
Kenya ethnic groups
The indigenous tribes in Kenya fall into three ethnic groups namely the Bantus, Cushites and the Nilotes.
The Bantus - The Bantu ethnic group are the largest ethnic community in Kenya making about 70% of the country’s population. Although they occupy less than 30% of the Kenyan land mass, the Bantu people in Kenya live mainly in the coastal, central, and western regions of the country. The Kikuyu tribe form Kenya’s largest single ethnic group. Their close kin is the Embu and Meru tribes. They are followed closely by the Luhya who live on the Western Kenya, the Kamba people of Eastern Kenya, the Kisii tribe from Rift valley and the Mijikenda people from the Kenya Coast. The Bantus economic life differs from the nilotes in that rural Bantus are agriculturalists growing much of the cash crops such as the popular Kenya coffee, tea and other agricultural products like maize, beans, rice and sugar.
The Cushites - Cushites or Cushitic people live in the arid and semi-arid eastern and northeastern parts of Kenya. They reside along a very large area of land that runs from the East of Lake Turkana, stretching out to the North of Kenya through to the Indian Ocean. They include the Somali, Rendile, Borana and the Oromo tribes. Because their habitat is very dry most of the year, they are mainly nomadic pastoralists who keep large herds of cattle, camels, goat and sheep. Cushitic people maintain very close ties with their kinsmen cushites of the neighboring countries of Somali and Ethiopia.
The Nilotes - Kenyan Nilotes reside in the broad Rift valley region of Kenya and in a region around Lake Victoria. They comprise three distinct groups: the River Lake Nilotes, the Luo, live in the Lake Victoria and practice fishing; the plain Nilotes, that is the Maasai, Samburu, and Turkana people are the pastoral tribes who have defied modern trends to retain most of their traditional ways of life. They are mainly found on the Great Rift Valley where they practice nomadic pastoralism. They roam from one part of their territory to another in resonance with the rainfall and in search of water and fresh food for their large herds; the High Land Nilotes are the Kalenjin people, who live in the Western Highlands and due of their geographical positioning and good climatic condition, the Kalenjins practice both pastoralism and agriculture.
Kenya’s other smaller tribes are independent or sub-tribes of the larger tribes and just like the large tribes, they are each culturally unique in their own way. These tribes are spread out in different parts of Kenya.
The Modern Kenya Tribes
The effects of modern civilization, education and influence of other outside cultures has led to gradual erosion and out-law of some deep rooted customs and tribal cultures that were once common among various tribes of Kenya. Customs such as female circumcision which was popular among the Maasai and Kisii tribes has since been forbidden by modern law. Most Kenyans especially those living in the modern urban cities have, for the most part, shed their tribal customs to adopt an almost western lifestyle.
Who lives in Kenya Cities?
Just about anyone ...as people migrate from rural Kenya to urban centres in pursuit of employment, leisure and other economic development activities, most of the large Kenya cities are now densely populated with people from different ethnic tribes. They speak the Kenya languages of English and Swahili while still retaining some native culture and ethnic language. It is this diversity of the tribes of Kenya and culture that makes Kenya such an adorable and unique country.