23/05/2025
The Mundari tribe is a small ethnic group from the Republic of South Sudan, with a population between 70,000 and 100,000 people. Their lands are bounded on the east by the White Nile, an important source of water for livestock.
The Mundari uses ash as talcum to massage their cattle twice a day and as toothpaste for themselves. Cattle urine is used to wash hands, faces, teeth and bleach hair. The Mundari also drink it in the belief that cow urine infuses purity.
In Mundari culture, like for many tribes of the region, cattle play an important role in religion, birth and marriage. They are symbols of wealth and power. Every life event includes a reference to cows, the lives of which can be sometimes deemed more important than those of humans. A person’s position in society is established through the ownership of cattle – the size and shape of the horns being the most important features. Traditionally, Ankole-Watusi cows are considered sacred, with an owner’s wealth counted in live animals. Unfortunately, cattle are also the main source of conflict. Clashes seldom arise over common resources such as land but rather over animals and their ownership.
They are agro-pastoralists with an economy centred on agriculture and herding livestock. Their famous, massive-horned Ankole-Watusi cattle are considered the ‘kings of the cattle’. They are part of the Sanga family of African cattle breeds which originated over 2,000 years ago from a combination of the Egyptian longhorn cattle of Africa and Zebu longhorns originally from India. Sanga cattle spread throughout eastern Africa, and many different breeds developed. Some studies suggest that the big horns of the Ankole-Watusi are an adaptation to hot climates, facilitating the dispersal of excess body heat.
