The Cultures of Uganda today we talk about the Ik people sometimes called Teuso, who are ethnos numbering about 10,000 people living high within the mountains of Morungole northeastern Uganda near the border with Kenya, next to the more populous Karamojong and Turkana peoples and within the Kidepo Valley Park Region of Northeastern Uganda. it’s today we share with you the Ik People.
The Ik Migration
It’s said that they migrated from Ethiopia and first settled in Kenya and migrated to what’s now Kidepo Valley Park. Ik means “head of migration” or the primary ones to migrate here. thanks to government interference beginning within the 1960s, the Ik’s traditional hunting and gathering area was made into a Wildlife Reserve, The Ik were displaced from their land to make the Kidepo Valley park and consequently suffered extreme famine. They were regularly raided due to their relative weakness to other tribes neighbouring them. They, therefore, began to migrate up to the Morungole Mountains where they will be found and visited today and sleep in relative peace.
Ik Special Food
The Ik people were hunters and gatherers however thanks to cattle raids from other tribes like the Turkana and Pokot of Kenya, the Karimojong of Uganda, and therefore the Tuposa of South Sudan they gave up cattle herding for farming, goat/sheep keeping, and honey production. Their language may be a member of the highly divergent Kuliak sub-group of the Nilo-Saharan languages.
How does Ik sleep
The Cultures of Uganda and the Ik people sleep in several small villages arranged in clusters, which comprise the entire “community”. the tiny villages are surrounded by an outer wall and then sectioned off into friend-based “neighborhoods” called Odoks. Each Odok is sectioned into walled-off households called asks, with front yards and in some cases, granaries. there’s no mattress or mat, but a trough scooped out of the world floor to mark the bounds of a bed.
The Ik people are polygamous and men can marry as many wives as they need to depending upon the number of beehives one has. a good man owns as many as 50 beehives and may give about five to 10 hives as a gift. the primary wife features a ‘husband’ status over other wives and wife inheritance after divorce or widowhood is practiced. Virginity isn’t a problem before marriage, adolescents do engage in premarital sex far away from the community eye.
The Cultures of Uganda
The close proximity of boys and girls within the community affords many opportunities. However, sex and marriage within an equivalent clan are taboo and adultery (of the woman) is punished by death. Every woman features a hut and therefore the men make rounds among their wives within the neighborhood. Children move out after five years of age, to remain with a grandmother until they’re about 11 to 13. The women marry and therefore the boys’ team in groups of 5 or six, and build one hut to remain in till they get a wife and leave.
The age band groups consist of; The ‘Junior Group’ which is formed from children from the ages of three to eight and therefore the ‘Senior Group’ consists of those between eight and thirteen. No adults take care of the youngsters, who teach one another the fundamentals of survival. However, it’s not certain whether this practice is typical of Ik tradition or merely triggered by unusual famine conditions. The raising of youngsters is sort of different here, polygamy is a component of family life and there’s not much of a proper education besides learning to defend themselves.
A day with the Ik People high on Morungole Mountain which has a number of the most stunning scenery altogether of Uganda is just a tremendous adventure this gives you a rare insight into an endangered tribe in Africa with but 10,000 members which render it as endangered for its future existence as they plan to eke out a living high within the mountains with a number of the foremost fantastic scenery altogether of Uganda.
The experience with this very special Ik tribe in Uganda helps you to find out more about their cultural habits like paying for gifts with 5 to 10 beehives, chickens, goats, and money rather than cattle, and childbirth. Learn more about what percentage of children at a young age accept each other or their grandmother. How polygamy is practised here and about lifestyle in an Ik community.
The Cultures of Uganda – Cultural Safaris
The Ik people are warm-hearted people, once you reach their villages you’ll be greeted warmly with traditional dancing often in Ik finery, they need therefore welcome tourism since it adds a touch of income to their community and more so tourism has helped to make awareness within the Ik tribe.
Getting to the Ik People
Is such a tremendous experience since it involves an all-day venture up and down the steep mountains with a guide who speaks the Ik Language. you’ve got to be physically fit to climb the mountains – the height of Mount Murongole is 2,749 meters above water level and a hike over here is torture for those who aren’t fit.
You’ll find simply stunning, breathtaking scenery the upper your climb takes you, into the valleys below you and into the valley of Kenya. Your hike up the mountains visiting the Ik tribe is going to be one of the highlights of sometime in Uganda, a memorable experience! Enjoy the various cultural ways of the Ik people, learn from them and luxuriate in a number of their local beers with them, it’ll be quite different from what you’re wont to. Clients on the road to the Ik community are welcome to offer donations in any form.
