Samburu Culture | Samburu People Kenya

The Close relatives of the Maasai people, the Samburu are a nomadic people, numbering just over 100,000 who moved south from the horn of Africa into the current day Kenya. The similarity between the Samburu tribe and the Maasai is quite close and is evident in their nomadic culture and dependency on livestock for livelihoods. The Man difference is that the Samburu are found on the northern part of Kenya whilst their relatives, the Maasai, are found to the south of Kenya.

The Samburu are pastoralists with a close attachment to their livestock, which they live off. Meat from sheep, goats and milk from cattle are their principal foods, supplemented by the blood of living cattle. The land they inhabited is mainly semi - arid and offers few opportunities for agriculture except around the hilly areas where maize, sorghum and wheat is now actively grown

They live in groups of families in make shift villages. The Samburu's hut resembles the Maasai's hut called "Manyatta". The huts are made of mud and dung supported using branches from trees. Their huts are surrounded by a fence of thorny bushes from the acacia tree and other types of thorny bushes. Women are responsible for making the huts, milking cows, gathering firewood, fetching water and general maintenance of the homestead. The men take care of the animals.

The Samburu wear their traditional attire which is a bright red material worn like a skirt. They also wear multi-beaded necklaces , bracelets and earrings. Samburu warriors paste their hair with red ochre to create a visor to shield their eyes from the sun. Samburu people have many traditional ceremonies.. These include the birth of a child, initiation and marriage. Boys are circumcised in their teenage. Moran is a term used in both Maasai and Samburu community to refer to a warrior. Like the Maasai, the Samburu also mix blood and milk to make their traditional drink.