About the Samburu tribe

The Samburu populate Kenya’s northern frontier district (see map).

There is very little known about the origin of the Samburu and their history doesn’t go back much further than the 19th Century and even this is hearsay.

The Samburu bare a striking resemblance to the Masai. Clothes, habits, traditions and even the language (they speak a Maa dialect) is incredibly similar, if not identical. They are a tall, agile and flamboyant type of people with fine bone structure and strong, defined profiles. Just like the Masai, they too remove their lower two middle teeth! Even without the proof, the Samburu are a definite branch of the Masai family tree.

The huts (manyatta’s) in which the Samburu live are approximately 1,5 meters high, 3,5 meters in diameter and are in the form of an oval (egg). The manyatta’s are made from wood, leaves and twigs and are covered with the hides and dung of their livestock.

The villages consist of groups of manyatta’s with approximately 40 people, all members of the same family. The huts are built in a circle and this is surrounded by thorny acacia tree branches to ward of wild animals.

The Samburu’s are livestock farmers and they lead a semi-nomadic life surrounded by cows, sheep, goats and sometimes even camels. During the day the herd are protected and watched by the men and boys whilst the women and girls concentrate on the household chores. Sheep, goats and cows are kept to be eaten or sometimes sold or bartered, donkeys are used to transport mainly water and the camels for both of the above and also for their milk.

It is not an easy way of life and the villagers often have to migrate in search of water and new grazing land for their livestock. Lengthy droughts with scorched landscapes due to temperatures exceeding 40°C and very little ‘safe’ water makes their lives incredibly hard not to mention the occasional torrential rains which cause huge mud baths which in turn cause “foot-rot” amongst the animals. The rain periods are April, June and November but there are of course no guarantees!

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