A look at the Tall African tribe of Dinka people in South Sudan

Dinka people are the largest tribe inhabiting the East and West Banks of the River Nile. They make up 18% (4.5 million people) out of the total population of the people and Abyei Area of the Angok Dinka in South Kordofan of Sudan. For some hundreds of years, the Dinka people refer to themselves Moinjaang, “People of the people.”

^{Source: Portrait of Dinka tribesmen and women at the local square in Rumbek, Southern Sudan.}


They live a pastoral lifestyle mixed with agriculture. There is some migration from one region to the other with their livestock and animals. Their main occupation is cattle/goat husbandry

The Dinka groups retain the traditional pastoral life of the Nilotes, but have added agriculture in some areas, growing grains, peanuts, beans, corn (maize) and other crops. Women do most of the agriculture, but men clear forest for the gardening sites. There are usually two plantings per year. Some are fishers. Their culture incorporated strategies for dealing with the annual cycle of one long dry season and one long rainy season.

Tall People

The Dinka people are one of the tallest tribe in Africa together with with the Tutsi of Rwanda.

• Average Male Height= 182.6cm ( 5ft 11.9 in) in a survey of 52 Dinka men done between 1953-1954

• Average Male Height = 176.4 cm (5 ft 9.4 in) in a survey done in 1995 ( probably as a result of poor nutrition due to the prolonged war in the area).

The people have slim but strong tall bodies.

^{Source:Wrestlers from Jonglei and eastern lakes region take part in the South Sudan national wrestling competition for peace at Juba stadium, South Sudan}

What’s their secret? Well, they likely evolved to best survive in a hot climate, says some school of thought. Longer limbs could allow them to sweat more and not overheat, he says.

From biology, the animals in the tropics tend to have longer limbs compared to their counterparts in more temperate or cold region. But human beings do not follow this law as they could change their environment to suit them by building huts/houses and other things to fight the force of elements. But the Dinka people happened to be one the tallest tribe that has the longest limb ever evolved.

That may be an evolutionary trend or simply they have a "tall gene" somewhere inside them. My Africa has a wide diversity in terms of people. There are short tribes (the Pygmies) that could be found in the Congo region.

Manute Bol Basketball Player

^{Source: Manute Bol: A Sudanese Basketball Player who was 7ft 7inches. The tallest player in NBA history. 1962-2010 ( Aged 47)}

An amazing tradition

They do not eat in the daytime. In evening meals are taken sitting around a fire. Meals consist of mostly milk, vegetables, fish but rarely the meat that they majorly rear. Could this be the secret to their incredible heights?

Cattle are never sacrificed. The community is led by a chief who chooses the grazing places. Each family detains a great number of cattle and some goats. Because they move so much, people do not keep too many belongings: just some clay pots, mats, handkerchiefs employed by the women to cover their heads and spear employed by men for hunting.

Source

The love for their livestock could clearly be seen above. It is a fascinating tribe with little publicity unlike their Maasai tribe of Kenya who had experienced a lot of media coverage in recent times.

Ref:1,2,3,4.