The Ik people (Also locally called Teuso) are an ethnic group living on the beautiful slopes of mountain Morungole located in the northeastern part of Uganda near the border with Kenya, next to the more populous Karamojong and Turkana peoples. They number to about 10,000 people. The Ik have suffered extreme famine long from the time they were displaced from their land to create the Kidepo Valley National Park.
These people further suffer raids from their neighboring superior tribes as they are considered most inferior within the region. In their calmness, the I k people are reknowned cattle keepers and gatherers but due to being constsntly raided by the superior neighboring tribes, the I K people resorted to subsistence farming to grind their own grain.
At Twist Africa, we invite all our Kidepo National Park tour participants to spend a few hours with our guide visiting the KI mountain people community. Hiking through Mountain Morungole rewards visitors with the spectacular scenic views of the surrounding areas. A visit to these unique people’s community offers you opportunity to explore more about the cultural habits of the Ik especially paying the bride wealth with five and ten beehives (a respectable man has about 50 beehives) and the first woman gets the status of the man over the rest of the wives, how children at a young age interact with one another or their grandmother as well as how legally accepted polygamy is practiced in their community.
We at TwistAfrican strongly embrace Social Impact Tourism being our “twist” in East African Safaris and there fore we ask that as appreciation of their demonstration of their cultural values, you contribute to the maintenance of KI community in the following ways. First, we ask for a specific donation of USD 50 per person – of which USD 15 we are required to pay local community organizers if wishing to visit the KI Mountain People Community, Your USD 35 additional contribution will be spent on your choice of either purchasing supplies (food, beddings, medicine) requested by the I k community leaders
If you are interested in additional information how you can make an ongoing difference to the local community after your visit, please write a message to our Social Impact Officer
Batwa People
The Batwa, a pygmy tribe that has lived in symbiosis with the gorillas for centuries, have been displaced from their forest habitat in the early 1990.