The Ik tribe

The Ik tribe, they are an indigenous community residing in the far Northern part of Karamoja, close to Kidepo Valley National Park. They are sometimes referred to as the “Tueso”, and “Ik” loosely translates to ‘ahead of migration/ first to migrate.’  They migrated from Ethiopia, first settled in Kenya and later to the Karamoja region. True to the meaning of their name, they were indeed the first settlers of Karamoja, probably having run away from the warrior neighbors. They kept a few herds of cattle and did not have a lot of wealth, unlike their neighbors like the Toposa, Turkana and the Jie.

They possess special skills in hunting, gathering edible fruits, tubers and leaves. They were outnumbered by the neighboring communities, who took pride in raiding the weak communities, who in this case are the Ik. The cattle of the Ik were taken by those communities, leaving the Ik with no choice than to abandon livestock farming and focus on-growing food crops and hunting. More unfortunate to that, their land was converted to a game reserve without compensation of the Ik, causing them to move high into Mountain Morungole.The montane vegetation covers the highlands, rising up to 2750meters from the Karamoja plains. The grasslands here are very different from others because they are high unlike the others in the plains burned by the sun.

The Ik community gathers in “odok” of friendly households , fenced against foreign intruders and wild animals. The individual community, “asak” are in relatively flat lands of the mountain, and have a large yard with a granary, rack for household items, kraal for, goats and sheep and a pit latrine. The Ik are a polygamous community allowed to marry as many wives as they can pay dowry for, measured in the number of goats, sheep, chicken, beehives, and monetary cash.

The Ik husbands erect an “asak” for each wife and make rotational visits in the same “odok”. Child-bearing is a blessing to humans and raising children in the Ik is a social responsibility. The parents share the “asak” with their children up to when the children are about 4years then they are picked up by their grandparents, who will teach them basic life survival skills. By the age of 13, the children are considered mature enough and boys erect their own “asak” whereas the girls are married off.

In the case that one loses their husband, they will be inherited or taken over by the brother to the deceased as wife. Sex promiscuity, adultery and incest are punishable in this community by death. However, some youths are able to date privately since they own their own “asak”. The Ik are a small aggrieved population that are not well educated, travelled or skilled. The government of Uganda is sensitizing the Ik about health, education, hygiene, farming, security and more productive skills.

A visit of the Ik will give the traveler a true insight of the African culture.