The largest and most dynamic of all Kenya's ethnic groups, the Kikuyu are Bantu-speaking agricultural people of northern Kenya, inhabiting highlands NE of Nairobi.

In days long gone by, the Kikuyu resided in separate family homesteads. The basic social unit of their family homestead consisted of a patrlineal group of polygamous males, their wives and their children. Basically farmers, the Kikuyu raising crops and livestock for theri living. Thus they practised little or no hunting and fishing.

Successfully adapting to the challenge of Western culture, the Kikuyu displayed an early political awareness. As a result, they led a movement to overthrow the British colonial government during the early 1950s. The resulting warfare became known as the Mau Mau Rebellion. The leader of that movement, Jomo Kenyatta, was elected prime minister after Kenya gained its independence from Britain in 1963.

With their striking costume and reputation as fierce and proud warriors, The Maasai are probably the best known tribe to people outside Kenya.

The customs and practices of the Maasai reflect their nomadic lifestyle. For instance, the basic Maasai diet is the milk and blood of their cattle. Thus the Maasai seasonally move their herds in quest for water and greener pastures. Additionally cattle are rarely slaughtered as they represent the owner's wealth.

The Maasai live in small clusters of huts called kraals or bomas. Their bomas also include enclosures for their cattle.

Maasai males are rigidly separated into five age groups: child, junior warrior, senior warrior, junior elder, and senior elder. Both boys and girls undergo circumcision ceremonies, which initiate them into adulthood. Marriages are often arranged, and polygamy is practiced.

Prior to European colonization of Africa, the Maasai herded their cattle freely across the Great Rift Valley of East Africa. They first encountered Europeans in the 1840s. During the 1880s and 1890s, the Maasai experienced severe droughts, famine, and disease, including smallpox, which was probably due to European contact. The Maasai cattle herds were decimated by an highly infectious febrile disease. The weakened Maasai fought against the encroachment of the Europeans but were defeated. The Europeans wanted farmland, and acquired large portions of Maasai land in the treaties of 1904, 1911, and 1912, which confined the nomadic Maasai to reserves and gave the Europeans fertile land.

Today the Maasai, who number approximately 250,000, live in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. Despite government efforts to settle them, most Maasai, to-date, still practise their nomadic way of life.

The Samburu share the language and the cultural heritage of the Maasai. But unlike the Maasai, the Samburu are more tolerant of other tribes and place a high value on social respect.

Called Loibor Kineji (people of the white goats) in the past, the Samburu people sometimes refer to themselves as the Loikop.

The Samburu generally live in small settlements of between four and six stock owners. Young boys take care of the goats and sheep, while young warriors take care of the cattle in the areas where they graze. Samburu power is in the hands of the elders, who are responsible for community decisions.

The staple food of the Samburu is milk, supplemented with blood tapped from cattle or from goats and sheep slaughtered for meat in the dry season. Certain roots and bark are added to soups for nutritional value. Agriculture is not easy in the rather arid region but crops like maize, sorghum and vegetables are grown.

Like other tribes, Samburu boys (ilayeni) are circumcised and then initiated as warriors (il-murran). Both these ceremonies and others take place during certain phases of the moon in lorora - settlements built for the occasion. With their heads shaved, each initiate is seated in turn in front of his mother's hut on an ox-hide. He is supported by two ritual patrons. After the operation, the initiates all sing together. Like the Maasai, the boys then go out and hunt small birds, collecting their feathers to make headdresses. About a month later, the initiates become il-murran and are allowed to put on the red ochre that distinguishes them as warriors.

The junior warriors become senior il-murran about five years later in the naming ceremony. In another six years, the age-set is allowed to marry. Marital status gives the warriors further prestige in the community.

The Samburu also practice female circumcision, with the girls being circumcised at roughly the same age as the boys. They are married an hour or two after the ceremony. The elders oversee and perform various rituals throughout the day. On the following morning, the bride leaves for her new home, passing through two rows of elders who bless her.

The Turkana, like the Maasai have retained their rich and colourful dress. Their traditional dress is ver eye-catching and is still commonly worn. Turkana men cover part of their hair with mud which is then painted blue and decorated with ostrich feathers. Additionally, they are tattooed on the shoulders and upper arm each time they kill an enemy. Turkana women wear a variety of beaded and metal adornments many of which signify different events in their lives. Both men and women sometimes use the lip plug through the lower lip.

Located primarily in northwest Kenya and around Lake Turkana, the Turkana migrated to the area from the west. According to legend, young men of the Jie tribe went into the Tarash valley in search of an ox that they had lost. While there they met an old Jie woman gathering fruit. Impressed with the area, they talked other young people into joining them and moved with their stock. Since that time, the Turkana and Jie have been allies.

Like the Maasai and Samburu, milk mixed with blood is the main food of the Turkana. Cattle and camels are important, as are the sheep and goats herded by the children and used for meat. Donkeys are also present, although used only as pack animals. Easily digestible camel milk is valuable as baby food.

The Turkana are divided into the forest and the plains people. Turkana men are divided into two age-sets, the Stones and the Leopards.

The Turkana generally live in extended family settings and their communities are based on the neighbourhood. Their marriages take place over a three year period to ensure the ritual, spiritual, and social well-being of those involved. Marriage is not complete until the first child has reached walking age. The bride price (paid by the bridegroom) usually involves quite a few cattle or camels, which come from the herds of the suitor, his father, his uncles, stock associates, and bond-friends. The wife occupies an important position in the neighborhood, and maintains close ties with both her husband and her father and brothers.

The traditional Turkana weapons, used to protect their herds and possessions from wild animals and other tribes, include an eight foot long spear, a knobkerrie fighting stick, wrist knives, finger hooks, and a shield made from buffalo, giraffe, or hippo hide. The Turkana are skilled at carving wooden water troughs and containers. Other containers are made from hides and decorated with beadwork.