Kara people

The Kara are a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting South Sudan. They speak the Gula language, which belongs to the Nilo-Saharan language family.

The Kara practice animism and shamanism. As a population, they exceed 100,000 members. They mainly live in South Sudan's Western Bahr el Ghazal state.

Daily life

The Kara are a semi nomadic people. They live in round huts made up of a framework of tree branches plastered with mud and the conical roof thatched with local grasses. A typical Kara village has 20 to 30 huts around a meeting place and also enclosures of branches to keep cattle and goats. The Kara tribe grow Sorghum,corn, beans, pumpkins and peanuts. The staples are Sorghum, made into a porridge either with milk or water, the latter eaten with a spicy stew of vegetables, and milk, meat and blood. Meat is eaten on special occasions and milk and blood are drunk freely. Sorghum is also fermented to make beer. Men wear only a piece of cloth wound around the waist, knee high with an extra cloth slung over the shoulder, men always shave their head while women plait their hair into many braids and decorate them with beads. Women wear only a pleated cowskin skirt. Both sexes wear jewellery.

Kara people (Tanzania)

The Kara are an ethnic and linguistic group mainly based in the Ukerewe District, in the Tanzanian section of Lake Victoria (Ukara Island, Ukerewe Island, southeastern shore of the lake). In 1987 the Kara population was estimated to number 86,000 .