Half Day Giriama Dancers Tour

Giriama tribe is one of the Mijikenda ("the Nine Tribes") are a group of nine related Bantu ethnic groups inhabiting the coast of Kenya, between the Sabaki and the Umba rivers, in an area stretching from the border with Tanzania in the south to the border near Somalia in the north. Archaeologist Chapuruka Kusimba contends that the Mijikenda formerly resided in coastal cities, but later settled in Kenya's hinterlands to avoid submission to dominant Portuguese forces that were then in control. Historically, these Mijikenda ethnic groups have been called the Nyika or Nika by outsiders. It is a derogatory term meaning "bush people."

The nine Ethnic groups that make up the Mijikenda peoples are the Chonyi, Kambe, Duruma, Kauma, Ribe, Rabai, Jibana, and Giriama. They are the northern Mijikenda while the Digo are southern Mijikenda. The Digo are also found in Tanzania due to their proximity to the common border. Each of the Mijikenda groups has a sacred forest, a kaya, which is a place of prayer. Eleven of the approximately 30 kaya forests have been inscribed together as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Sacred

Mijikenda people are also known for creating wooden Kigango funerary statues which have been displayed in museums around the world and sold in the international art market. These artifacts were at one time legally sold by reputable art galleries and curio shops during the early 1970s to the 1990s; however, other Kigango statues were found to have been stolen from cultural sites and illegally sold.

Each Mijikenda ethnic group has its own unique customs and dialects of the Mijikenda language, although the dialects are similar to each other and to Swahili.

You will be picked up from your hotel in Diani Beach and be taken to the nearby Giriama Dancers in the midst of the Digo tribe who belongs to the Mijikenda family. On arrival after about 30 minutes you will be welcomed under a tree shed round set up benches made from palm tree and other type timbers from with their village where the activity would take place. An introduction by the dances through an interpreter would follow and you will be supposed to free yourself for the cultural activity heartily to be before you. The dancer’s way of life is based on the inherited ancient culture and with their still remaining reluctance of western life adaptation you will be showcased their ancestral way of life evident by the home stead appearance you will be in and the people who live in there. It is a home stead with many inhabitants from many small houses traditionally made of wood, soil and thatched by palm tree leaves. You will be able to witness many people in the place from toddlers, children, youth after school hours, parents and grandparents living simple life that they love under one homestead with various houses meant to accommodate different ages of their family set up also based on relation. With what to show case would be any traditional amenities for their life, like chairs, crockery and cutlery etc differencing the old and current life found elsewhere.

Dancing would follow which shall take place under the same trees. The Giriama Dancers would have arranged their music instruments in advance for warming them even before your arrival. “Fine tuning” for proper performance. One song after the other would be done but first with introduction meaning and when were they performed, every song had a meaning but so more the song to be done would be for entertainment and general including wedding but not for mourning. For those who would love to join those for dancing would be welcome as women and men would want to shake your lower back, your shoulders and exercise for a pleasure in under African sky in the middle of Digo community. That is one way of sharing culture and taking back to the community.

Later you will be taken back to your hotel to arrive after 30 minutes after middling gracefully with the community in their native village.