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This
is the most extensive of the semiarid areas of Uganda. It has high
evapo-transpiration with low and erratic moisture input. In the long
dry
seasons this is hot, dust laden country. An indicator of the existing
water
balance is the intermittent rivers
which carry surface water only for a few hours to a
few days after rains.
They carry sub surface water for a large part of the
year. This is the
main dry season water source for people and for livestock.
In 1963 there were only a few permanent
late dry season water holes and a limited number of deep wells provided
by the
administration. Cattle watering during the late dry season was often
difficult.
The
settled areas were 3500 to 6000 feet in elevation, at latitudes of
1°30' to
about 3° 45' north. This is tropical highland.
1963 was
a year of civil disorder in Karamoja and the area was closed
to civilian aircraft. The photo coverage had to be pieced together.
Napore/Nyangeya had been flown and photographed for the East African
Tsetse Control Department in 1954. In 1963 the Police Department
plane occasionally flew in and out of Karamoja and permitted me
to ride with them for flights over Bokora. Labwor/Nyakwai
was photographed when the aircraft strayed off course on a flight
to photograph the Lango area to the west. For Dodos
and Jie there are no low altitude air photos, but high altitude
air photos from the Uganda Survey Department are used to show
settlement layout. Partial overviews were obtained by photographing
from the tops of inselbergs or rock islands against which both
Dodos and Jie locate many settlements.
Note
on lack of cattle visibility: although these were cattle keeping
societies with
two to four cattle per person, cattle were not visible in or around
settlements
during the day. They were being grazed
and watered, near home settlements during the wet season but in the dry
season 10 to 20 miles away at the few remaining water holes.
The distribution of
tribal groups within north
east Uganda is shown on the map on the
home page. In the far north were the
Dodos. To the west of Dodos, the
Napore/Nyangeya were located along the Nyangeya mountains. South of the
Dodos were the Jie around Kotido. Further south were the
Karamajong with their
subgroups: Bokora in the west, Mathiniko in the east and to the north
of
Moroto. The Labwor/Nyakwai were settled
around the Labwor mountains in western central Karamoja. Not studied
were the
Teuso, a small group in the mount Zulia area, the Tepeth, a tiny
population in
the high mountains of the south and two Karamajong sub groups the Pian
and Upe
in the far south.
ENTER
NORTH EAST PHOTO GALLERY
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