How Many Different Tribes Are There In Kenya?

By Author: Amar Shah
Total Articles: 215
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Kenya is home to roughly about 52 tribes including sub-tribes, indigenous and non- indigenous ones that have co-existed with each other over the years. To break them down in to simpler segments, the tribes are classified into the Bantu that include the Kikuyu, Meru, Kamba, Embu and Mbeere which inhabit the Central region of the country. The Luhya, Kuria, Kisii and Gusii inhabit the Western region while the other Bantus living in the Coastal region include the Mijikenda, Taita, Pokomo, Giriama and Duruma among others.

The Nilotes on the other hand include the Luo and Teso who comprise of the Iteso and Turkana. The Maasai comprise of the Maasai, Njemps and Samburu while the Kalenjin include the Kipsigis, Nandi, Marakwet and Tugen to mention but a few. The Luo mostly inhabit the area around Lake Victoria while the rest of the Nilotic communities are found mostly in the Rift Valley. The Cushites mostly inhabit the Northern part of Kenya and include the Rendille, Gabbra and Borana among others. Lastly there are the hunters and gatherers who include the Elmolo, Dahalo, Ndorobo and Sanye.

Even with this classification, ...
... the Kenyan tribes have for decades intermingled with each other and forged solid relations all over the country. This has mostly been as a result of intermarriages between the different tribes.

Different communities are associated with different economic activities through which they survive. The Bantus living in the Central region of the country are traditionally farmers and that means they have over the years settled in farms where they cultivate food and rear domestic animals like cows, sheep and goats for meat and milk. The same is the case for Bantus who live in Western Kenya, like the Luhya and Gusii and others living in the Coastal region.

The Luo seem to be the only Nilotes who have settled down in the Western part of Kenya, cultivating their farms although the most common activity they are involved in is fishing around Lake Victoria. The rest of their counterparts; the Turkana Maasai and Teso are nomadic pastoralists, who rear huge herds of cattle and move form place to place in search of better climatic conditions for themselves and their animals. The Kalenjins have settled down into farms where they cultivate food and rear sizeable numbers of livestock.

Most of the Kenyan tribes have however moved from their traditional ways of life more so the pastoral communities who have started to settle down as dictated by climatic changes that have been witnessed over the years. Climatic conditions have become so erratic and this has forced many of them to settle to farming together with animal rearing so as to guarantee food security. Urbanisation, intermarriages, education and modernisation are other factors that have made many Kenyan tribes to shed their traditional lifestyles.

This has however not been the case with the hunters and gatherers who have maintained their way of life. They have also for a long time been out of touch with the rest of the Kenyan tribes and they have as a result become almost extinct. The El-Molo in particular have only a few of them remaining in the shores of Lake Turkana while the few remaining Ndorobo are being forced to integrate with other tribes following a campaign by the Government of Kenya to save forests (their traditional habitat) from destruction.

Kenya's traditional communities are also known for their diverse cultural ways.