Mount Elgon - Local Ethnicities

Local Ethnicities

Mount Elgon and its tributaries is home to four tribes, the Bagisu, the Sabiny the and the Ogiek, better known in the region under the derogatory umbrella term Ndorobo. The Bagisu, Sabiny and Shana are subsistence farmers and conduct circumcision ceremonies every other year to initiate young men (and in the Sabiny's case, girls) into adulthood. Traditionally, the Bagisu, also known as the BaMasaba, consider Mount Elgon to be the embodiment of their founding father Masaba, and sometimes call the mountain by this name. Local people have long depended on forest produce and have made agreements with the park to continue to harvest resources such as bamboo poles and bamboo shoots (a local delicacy). The Ogiek used to be hunters and honey gatherers, but have become more sedentary in recent decades, and have partially been moved downward by the government.