List of Kenya Tribes – A to H

Aweer

This Kenya tribe is also frequently called the "Boni", thought the correct name for these people is Aweer. The Aweer is a small and very isolated tribe found by the coast of Kenya, near the border with Somalia. There are only around 4,000 Aweer people left. This Kenya tribe is best known for its unusual practice of using semi-domesticated birds to find honey, with whistling signals. The Aweer are mostly Muslim, like other coastal tribes. Their remote territory is heavily wooded and the tribe are traditionally hunter-gathers, rather than the typical Kenyan cattle herders.

Bajuni

The Bajuni territory is mainly along the coast in Somalia, but with some villages in northern Kenya. The islands in the Indian Ocean near Kismayo are mainly populated with Bajuni people. Naturally, their traditional way of life is as fishermen and sailors. Their language is called Kibajuni, and it is very similar to the popular Swahili of the region. These people are very isolated, and there are between 4,000 and 10,000 of them left.

Bukusu

The Bukusu are actually a sub-group of the larger Luhya tribe, living near Mount Elgon in the Western Province of Kenya. They are an agricultural people who live in extended family groups, with husbands traditionally having more than one wife. This Kenya tribe keeps large herds of cattle for food and as measures of wealth. Unlike many other pastoral tribes, the Bukusu are not nomadic and live in permanent villages. Compared to the rest of the Luhya tribe, the Bukusu people live the most traditionally and have not accepted many modern changes to their way of life. Former Kenyan vice-president, Michael Wamalwa Kijana is from the Bukusu tribe. The tribe is often politically active, particular with the FORD-Kenya party.

Dahalo

The Dahalo tribe has diminished almost to extinction, with its people living among the Swahili and other coastal tribes, but with no real communities or territory of their own. The language of the Dahalo is very unusual, and has clicking sounds seldom seen in spoken languages. Only around 400 people are still able to speak it, and it is unlikely that children are still being taught the Dahalo language of this Kenya tribe.

Embu

The Embu tribe numbers around a half million people, and their territory is located on the south-east side of Mount Kenya. In the past, they grew crops for their own use, but today they use their fertile mountain lands for growing cash crops instead. Circumcision is an important coming-of-age rituals, that is done for both girls and boys. The Embu don't have a warrior generation like some other tribes do. Though most Embu are Christians now, their traditional beliefs held that god, Ngai, lived on the top of their mountain. The closely related tribe of the Mbeere believed the same thing. - More about the Embu tribe

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