Kenya's tribes - worth knowing

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There are 42 tribes in Kenya, or even more if you count different subgroups. Each tribe speaks its own language, lives in its own region and, to some extent, has its own customs.

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Kenyans rarely feel like Kenyans, but rather like members of their tribe. After staying with and talking to Kenyans during our trip, we've learnt a bit more about Kenya's tribes.

Tribalism

While all Kenyan tribes have important cultures to preserve, at the same time the tribes pose a political problem as tribalism (favouring one's own tribe) takes precedence over nationalism and democracy. This is exactly what happened during the the 2007 elections, when protests against suspected electoral fraud resulted in severe inter-tribal violence.

Kikuyu, massajer, kalenji, luo ...

Some of the best known strains are kikuyu (largest and richest), masseur (usually seen in tourist brochures), calendars (where all great runners come from) and luo (also relatively influential).

The people we visited belonged to luo. Everyone we met spoke luo, listened to luo music and made jokes about luo versus other tribes. And, of course, wanted to tell us about the most famous member of the Luo tribe - Barak Obama!

When we went dancing for the first time, it was of course in a luo place, where luo music was played... Check out the video below with luo music!

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