Children of Nomads. Image credit wordpress.com

ZIMSEC O Level Geography Notes:Agriculture:Farming types in Africa: Subsistence farming:Nomadic way of life

  • Nomads are always on the move and their way of life is quite tough due to the harsh environment.
  • Nomads move following traditional routes and following rainbelt zones.
  • They travel light to enable them to quickly break camp and move on.
  • As they get to an area, they set up camp.
  • Men move out herding the livestock while women and children grow crops.
  • As pastures run out and water run dry, the whole group,usually a clan, break camp,pack up and move.
  • In West Africa, they are forced to move north by the approach of testse flies from the south.
  • Their whole life depends on livestock for meat, blood, skins for clothing and making tents, bones needles and for manure.
  • Nomadic tribes are war-like, occasionally clashing with sedentary farmer over land rights or invading settled farmers or urban settlements to get food.
  • They are very proud and brave people, using to warding off predators to their livestock using bare hands, spears, arrows, knobkerries or machetes.

To access more topics go to the O Level Geography Notes page