Tanzania - Datoga Tribe

We were fortunate to meet with the Datoga tribe, another ancient tribe from the Tanzania region. 

We were taken to one of their houses where we met 3 women. These 3 were the wives of the same man. In this tribe, a man is expected to have several wives and the funny part is that he has to pay a bride price to the wives family in order to get married. We were shown how corn is grinded and made into powder and then how porridge is made from the powdered corn. This porridge is called Ugali. We also ate some ugali. We also did a bit of grinding. 

We were then taken to the men’s corner of the area where men make different things from melted metal. They gather bits and pieces of metal items (taps, keys, rods, etc.) and using an ancient system of bellow and fire, they melt these items and make other items of their need. These include arrow tips, spears, bangles, rings, etc. we tried our hand at the bellows. A brass tap went into the fire and what came out was a long brass rod which would be further processed to make brass bangles. We also tried our hands at this and realised this is a good workout. 

A Nilotic ethnic people group from Tanzania, the Datooga (Wamang'ati in Swahili) are presently based in the Karatu District of the Arusha Region and were formerly distributed throughout the northern Singida Region and the southwest Manyara Region. It was projected that there were 87,978 people living in Datooga in 2000. 

They speak two languages: Swahili and Datooga. African Traditional Religion and Christianity are the two religions practiced. The Datoga tribe's practice of circumcising both men and women is another fascinating feature. Nevertheless, female circumcision is now mostly prohibited. The most valuable domestic animal in Datoga country is cattle. In addition, they rear chickens and herd sheep, goats, and donkeys. They consume meat, cow dung, hide fat, milk, horns, blood, and tendons for ceremonial or utilitarian purposes.