Barabaig people

Barabaig woman

The Barabaig are a nomadic tribe of the Datooga people based in the northern volcanic highlands near Mount Hanang in Manyara Region, Tanzania.[1] Their population is about 50,000.

History

Many Barabaig were forcibly evicted from the Basotu Plains in the 1990s to make room for a large-scale wheat-growing project of the Canadian and Tanzanian governments.[2]

Society

The Barabaig live by hunting, farming, and animal husbandry.

There is a custom in which they hunt their halots (or enemies) only with spears, which are: elephants, lions, and other animals. Anyone who does so will be considered as a "ghadyirochand", or a hero, and is rewarded with gifts of cattle, women, and prestige in his tribe.[3]

See also

References

  1. ethnologue.com
  2. George Monbiot, monbiot.com
  3. From "National Geographic July 2004, 'Toe-to-Toe with Tanzania's Elephants'"


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