Cultural tours offer an opportunity to explore the rich cultural and historical heritage of people and places from the Batwa pygmies and Hadzabe hunter gatherers to the Maasai nomadic pastoralists. Visitors to Uganda and Rwanda for gorilla safaris or to Kenya and Tanzania for Big five and Great wildebeest migration safari can add cultural activities in their itineraries. Some of the cultural tours to enjoy include the following:-
Maasai cultural tours
Maasai are semi-nomadic pastoralists found in Kenya and Tanzania in the Great Rift Valley plains where the grazing pastures sustain their way of life. Cattle are a symbol for wealth and social status and the Maasai traditionally move from one place to another to find water and fresh pastures for their livestock. As such, they live in temporarily huts known as Manyattas which are built with mad and cow dung to accommodate and protect their extended families. The nomadic way of life has been diminishing due to establishment of conservation areas, however. There are positive effects of tourism for the Maasai through opportunities for education with schools, healthcare clinics and computer learning centers. There are alternative sources of livelihoods as women make and sell their handicrafts including Suka and colorful beaded necklaces at Wan Fam Clothing store in Nairobi capital city. Tourism offers jobs for those working as lodge stuff and park guides. They have been trained and equipped with skills in modern livestock farming to adapt to their environment and preserve their cultural heritage. According to the Maasai Association, the estimated population of Maasai is 1,189,522 million of which most live in the communities adjacent to protected areas including Maasai Mara national reserve, Amboseli, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, and Tarangire national parks which are home to the Big Five African mammals which include lions, leopards, elephants, buffaloes and rhinos. After a morning or afternoon game drives, visitors can visit the Maasai villages to meet the members and witness their cultural traditions, rituals and ceremonies including the high jump dance called Adumu and traditional Maasai food preparation which involves mixing milk with blood. Maasai have many rituals, ceremonies and rites of passages which are still practiced today. The young boys known as Moran used to undergo a circumcision ritual and initiation into manhood. Killing a lion was a rite of passage for one to become a warrior and be responsible for managing a warrior’s camp of 20-40 houses such as the one at Mara Rianda, the largest Maasai Manyatta with 50 huts near Maasai Mara national reserve. The village of Mto Wa Mbu 2km from Lake Manyara national park offers a market where visitors can see how Maasai artisans make souvenirs. Another place to visit Maasai is Karatu town, the gateway to Ngorongoro Crater.
Batwa cultural experience
Batwa pygmies are one of the indigenous people that lived in forests as hunter gatherers in central Africa including Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and DR Congo. They can be visited on a gorilla safari to Uganda and Rwanda available for booking through a tour operator. Batwa were evicted from their ancestral lands due to due to conservation efforts that turned their forests into protected areas for mountain gorilla tourism including Volcanoes, Mgahinga gorilla, and Bwindi impenetrable national parks. With little or no compensation for the lost land, they faced challenges including marginalization, homelessness, inadequate food and healthcare leading to poor living conditions. The plight of Batwa was helped by the Bwindi-Mgahinga Conservation Trust created in 1994 to conserve biodiversity including 459 gorillas which is half of the world’s gorilla population, over 120 mammal species, 354 bird species of which 24 are Albertine rift endemics. The trust involved the Batwa in acquiring land for farming and build houses among other organizations like Batwa Development Program and the United Organization for Batwa Development in Uganda have helped them to go to school and get access to better healthcare at Bwindi Community Hospital in Buhoma sector. These organizations partnered with Uganda Wildlife Authority to create the Batwa Trail Experience in Mgahinga gorilla national park in 2012 with three objectives which include providing them with a source of income, to preserve their cultural heritage, and to incorporate the Batwa into the conservation efforts of the protected area. Winding along the slopes of Gahinga volcano, the trail is 5km long and lasts 4-5 hours from the park visitor center at Ntebeko to Garama Cave where the former king resided. The trained Batwa act as guides and demonstrate their ancient traditions including the pre-historic fire making activity, fruit, water and honey gathering, medicinal herb identification and ends at Garama with where they perform rituals songs, dances, and storytelling at the end of the trail. Among other places to visit the Batwa include the Buniga Forest trail in Nkuringo sector and Ntanda in Semliki national park.
The Ik cultural experience
Ik people live adjacent to Kidepo valley national park in the semi-arid Karamoja sub-region of north eastern Uganda along the border with South Sudan and Kenya. The word Ik translates into ‘head of migration’ and they’re believed to have been the first people to settle in north eastern Uganda from the horn of Africa. They occupied areas around Timu forest escarpment, Mount Morungole, Zulia, Puta forest reserves and Kidepo valley national park where they have lived as hunter gatherers for generations. The nature of terrain provided them with fertile volcanic soils to grow food crops which include sorghum, finger millet, pumpkins, beans, and green vegetables. Kidepo is rich in biodiversity with over 77 mammals species and 500 species of birds as such the area also provided favorable hunting grounds and sacred spaces where they performed rituals to honor their ancestors and seek guidance from the spirits of their traditional god called Did-Gwari who is associated with bad and good weather.
Turnbull, a British-American anthropologist described Ik as ‘The Mountain People’ given that they became accustomed to living in the mountain slopes following interaction with the dominant semi nomadic pastoral Karimojong ethnic groups including Dodoth and the Turkana from Kenya. As the Karimojong occupied the plains, the IK eventually adopted to surviving in the mountain slopes. However, the IK traditional way of life was distorted when the government of Uganda established Kidepo national park in 1962 and forced them to relocate to areas around Kamion, Morungole, and Timu forest escarpment where they practice subsistence farming and bee-keeping and their cultural heritage is being preserved through tourism. Ik speak the Kiik language which is associated with Kuliak subgroup of the Nilo-Saharan languages and is passed down from one generation to another. According to the National Census 2014, the estimated total population of Ik is 14,000 of which 6,500 are males and 7,500 females. The Ik consist of 11 clans including Ngidoch and Terek. The Ik cultural experience offers an opportunity to visit the homestead and observe their ancient cultural traditions including the Itowees festival, which marks the end of the year. This festival is held at Nawadou Village in Kalapata sub-county Kaabong district and led by elders from the Terek clan. Another site where this festival is celebrated is called Lokongote where you can do the Timu Forest Escarpment walk with the head of the Ngidoch clan. During this celebration, you can see some of the Ik cultural items that are used for different purposes including the Nyerupepe, a curled horn of a bushbuck with two openings that’s blown to mobilize the community.