They shower with cow urine, and protect their cattle with their lives…meet the Mundari tribe

South Sudan is one of the world’s youngest countries, and it has witnessed immense change since gaining independence in 2011. The promise of peace has given way to civil war, and tribal rifts continue to run deep, permeating political affairs. Amid the tumult is the Mundari, a people who would rather get on with doing what they do best: looking after their cattle.

The Mundari are a small ethnic group of South Sudan and part of the Karo people one of the Nilotic peoples.

The group is composed of cattle-herders and agriculturalists and are part of Karo people which also includes Bari, Pojulu, Kakwa, Kuku and Nyangwara. Kutuk na Mundari is also the name of their language, which is similar to Kutuk na Kuku, Kutuk na Kakwa, Kutuk na Pojulu, Kutuk na Bari, and Kutuk na Nyangwara.

The Mundari, like other nilotic tribes, are very cattle-oriented: cattle serves as food, a form of currency and a mark of status. Marriages are arranged by the prospective groom offering cattle to the bride’s family and husbands may take as many wives as they can support. The Mundari engage in perennial cattle raiding wars with the Bor Dinka during the dry season.

Mundari men are known to bathe their hair in cow urine, giving it a yellow-orange color. The Mundari also cultivate sorghum and catch fish using nets and spears.

In common with other nilotic tribes in Sudan, the Mundari practice ritual scarification as a rite of passage into adulthood for young men. The typical Mundari scar pattern consists of two sets of three parallel lines, each on either side of the forehead, extending in a downward slope and unconnected in the middle.

Ghanaian YouTuber, Wode Maya visited South Sudan some few months ago, where he explored the cultures of the Mundari people.