Northern Uganda

The Karamojong

The Karamojong are an ethnic group from the northeastern part of Uganda. The Karamojongo is part of the Nyangatom nomadic pastorists group that migrated from Ethiopia and settled in Kenya on the shores of lake Turkan and was name the Turkana group, the Turkana group intermarried with other natives that were settled in the same place and their off springs were called Kalenji and Masai people. 

Another group also moved and settled in south Sudan including the jie and Topos, so the Karamojong were cousins to the ije but for them they continued moving and settled in northeastern Uganda as they continued with the search for water and pastures for their animals. However the elderly parents of the ije got tired of continuous migrations and decided to stay in Uganda calling themselves the Karamojong  derived from the word “Ekar imojongo” meaning the old men cannot move any further, that’s were they settled in the districts of Kotido, Kaabong, Amudat, Moroto, Napak, Abim and Nakapiripirit. The ije intermarried with other communities and their offsprings were the itesot in Eastern Uganda.

The Karamojong people are nomadic pastoralists who spend most of their time moving to the neighboring districts and countries in search for water and pasture for their animals during the dry seasons. The life of Karamojong rotates around cattle keeping and their main food being raw milk, blood from the cows, smoked meat, ghee, fresh beef among others.

In the Karamojong region one is declared wealthy by the number of cattle he or she has and one with many is considered to be rich. Cattle are a sign of prestige in the Karamoja region because they are also given to friends, sons as precious gifts and to congratulate one another.

The Karamojong live in extended families with their communal houses called the manyatta with large and shared compounds. According to the Karamojong, the manyatta are learning institutions and everybody living there is entitled to a role depending on their age, gender, experience. The women and the girls are supposed to stay and look after the homesteads, cultivate and grow crops, cook food for the husbands, fetch water and so on while the men and boys are to take care of the cattle as they move around to look for water and pastures. 

The Karamajong boys when they are ready for marriage, a day is organized and wrestles the bride to show that he will be able to care and protect the wife, if the man wins then is allowed to marry the girl but when the girl wins then he is not allowed to marry her but advised to marry from others communities that do not first go for wrestling. Bride price is paid to the parents of the girl including cattle, goats, sheep, chicken among others which is a big ceremony in the community where they eat and drink for a couple of days.

The Karamojong generally are tall dark skinned people due to the exposure to the sun and high temperatures in their region, they also have markings on their faces, piercing their nose, ears, lips and other parts with a lot of jewelry on the legs, arms, neck, head among others which means something to them.

The Indigenous Karamojong (The IK)

The Indigenous Karamojong also known as the ik which literally means the first to migrate in their local language are believed to have migrated from Ethiopia and settled in Kenya where they later migrated to Karamoja region. The ik were the first settlers in the Karamoja region since they were running away from their seniors the Turkana, jie, Toposa who kept large herds of cattle. The ik had small herds of cattle, goats, sheep, chicken but they were more so of hunters, farmers, fruit gathers among others.

The Karamojong raided and confiscated the little heads of cattle that the ik had because they believed their god Akuj had given them all the cattle including that of the ik, the ik were forced to leave cattle keeping and concentrated on hunting, cultivating land to grow crops, gathering fruits and other edible items. As if that was not enough, the wildlife protection and conservation movements gazetted their area as a game reserve and forced to vacate the land without being compensated. The ik with a lot of anger and agony they moved high in mountain morungole ranges which is 2750 meters from the Karamoja plains where they inhabit up to now.

The ik are polygamous people and are allowed to marry as many women as they can pay dowery. Their dowry is paid inform of cattle, goats, sheep, chicken, beehives and some money.

Giving birth to children in the ik communities is taken as a social responsibility where children stay with their parents up to only four years then the grandparents come for them. The grandparents are supposed to impact the relevant skills including how to survive in life, cleaning the house, cooking food, hunting and so on up to 13 years. At the age of 13 they are supposed to live in the grandparents’ house and stay with their friends in their own houses called the asak for the case of boys while the girls are supposed to get married. 

The ik culture and tradition allows wife inheritance in case of death of a partner or divorce, adultery is punishable and incest is a taboo.

The ik is the smallest tribe in Uganda with over 10,000 to 15,000 people living in the Morungole Mountain which for many years has not been recognized in Uganda but slowly by slowly through tourism, Kidepo valley National park and the entire government of Uganda has empowered them with skills and income generating projects.

They can be visited on your tour to Kidepo valley National park and get to learn more about them and their way of living.