Visiting the Datoga tribe at Lake Eyasi is an impressive cultural experience and a trip back in time. The Datoga are skilled farmers and craftsman and during this cultural visit you will experience their habitat and culture first hand.
Who are the Datoga tribe?
There is little concrete history of the Datoga people. This people are part of the broad Nilotic migration from the Sudan along the Nile River centuries ago. The Datoga are proud people, with a reputation as fierce warriors. Their migration history has been reconstructed through comparative linguistics and study of oral traditions of the Datoga and their neighbors. The Datoga are linguistically and culturally classified as Highland (Southern) Nilotes. Their origins are thought to be in the Southern Sudan or western Ethiopia highlands, probably 3000 years ago. A gradual southward migration of their ancestral people resulted in a settlement of the highland areas of Kenya and Tanzania by speakers of Nilotic languages, herding and ultimately farming in those rich highlands by about AD 1500.
Identity:
The Datoga themselves blend in with their environment, their dress being the color of the reddish brown soil. Only on closer inspection will they appear colorful with their reddish, patched leather dresses, bead work, and brass bracelets and necklaces. A prominent decoration is tattooing of circular patterns around the eyes. They were herders, but have diversified to include agriculture in recent times. The Datoga are proud people, with a reputation as fierce warriors. Other Tanzanians and outsiders consider the Datoga primitive, because they resist education and development.
Economy:
Datoga self-identify as pastoral and place incredible cultural meaning on cattle, however, like many other people they rely on a range of economic subsistence strategies including farming, market, and wage based labor. The extent to which Datoga rely on semi-nomadic herding strategies varies across the region, with some communities relying extensively on traditional practices and utilizing primarily a milk based diet. Among pastoral Datoga, herds consist of goats, sheep, and donkeys, but cattle are by far the most important domestic animal. Datoga as farmers are specialists in onion plantations. The Datoga are master blacksmiths. Their income source comes by forging knives, arrowheads and jewelry for the greater Datoga tribe and for the bushmen known as the Hadzabe.
Language:
The Datoga language, with its dialects, is a Southern Nilote language, related distantly to the Kalenjin languages of Kenya. About 20% also speak the language of their Southern Cushitic neighbors, Iraqw. A language closely related to Datoga is Omotik, the speech of another small northern Tanzania people. Only about 5% speak Swahili, the national language of Tanzania. This further accentuates their isolation. The Barabaig dialect is spoken by over half the Datoga. Their literacy rate is only about 1% and there is very little available in their language. Schools available are conducted in Swahili.
Political Situation:
The Datoga have basically been bypassed in modern political developments. They were not active in the colonial period and have lived in the small circle of their contacts with neighboring peoples, mostly in a belligerent relationship.
Customs:
The Datoga keep goats, sheep, donkeys and a few chickens, but cattle are by far the most important domestic animal. The meat, fat, blood, milk, hide, horns, tendons and cow dung of every animal have either practical or ritual purposes. They were formerly nomadic, depending largely on milk products for their diet, and moving whenever the needs of their cattle dictated. Now, however, many farm a plot of maize and sometimes beans and millet. The ideal family situation is polygamous, with wives ranked in order of marriage. Marriage must be outside the clan. Funerals are extensive ceremonies, lasting up to a year. Power centers in a neighborhood council of elders. Group pressure is the primary social control, but elders can impose fines and curses. Men drink honey beer as a sacred drink on ritual occasions.
What to expect when visiting a Datoga Village in Tanzania?
During this cultural visit you will see how the tribe goes about their daily life. You will enter their traditional houses and partake in the milling of maze and flour with the Datoga women as they showcase their daily activities and what to do to survive their daily struggles. You will then tour the village forge where the men conduct their blacksmith activities and you will help them prepare the liquid metal in order create knives, arrowheads and traditional elaborate steel bracelets. The Datoga are proud people, with a reputation as fierce warriors and are considered some of the best weapons manufacturers (knives, spears, arrowheads) of Africa.
Do’s and don’ts when visiting a Maasai village in Tanzania
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Do ask questions. Your Datoga guide is there to share their culture and welcome questions about their culture and traditions
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Don’t take photos without permission! Always ask for permission when taking photos of the Datoga village and the Datoga people.
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Do respect your environment. It’s important to remember that this is not a tourist attraction – it is the home of your hosts.
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Do keep an open mind and be ready to learn about this amazing culture.
