For this tour we leave early in the morning from Asmara and have to drive past Keren. We can have breakfast in Keren and you can also buy some packed lunch and drinks in Keren as well to bring with you. This trip can also start from Keren.

The Kunamas are a people from the Nile Valley living in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan. 80% of Kunamas live in Eritrea, but they represent only 2% of the population of that country. Most of the approximately 100,000 Kunamas live in the area between the Mareb and Tekezé rivers, near the border with Ethiopia. The war has caused an estimated 4,000 Kunamas to flee to Ethiopia, where they live as refugees.

The Kunamas speak a Nilo-Saharan language, unrelated to the dominant language, in Eritrea and Ethiopia. The first grammar and the first dictionary were established by missionaries in 1873. Although some Kunamas still practice traditional beliefs, most have adopted Christianity (85%), (Eritrean Orthodox or Protestant Church) or Islam (10%)

A generally accepted hypothesis is that they originally came from the Nile Valley, at the foot of the Nuba Mountains in southern Sudan. The first written mention of them comes from an unknown Arab traveler, who during a visit near Khartoum, Sudan, in 872 BCE, noted the presence of Cunamas (Kunamas) groups living in the border area with the ‘Alodie. Another mention dates from the tenth century and the Arab geographer Ibn Hawqal. It signals their presence in the Barka valley. He specifies that they worship a God called Anna, and are governed by a community of elders.

With the arrival of Europeans in the region, especially Italians and British, the Kunama people had to deal with raids and invasions by Western armies or their adversaries in the Horn of Africa. The Kunama people suffered particularly from the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Some kunama families are fleeing Eritrea to avoid the enlistment of their children, and settle as refugees in Ethiopia, in the sensitive area of ​​the border with Eritrea and near the disputed border village of Badmé.

The fertile plains of Gash-Barka, the region where the Kunamas of Eritrea live, are sometimes referred to as the “breadbasket of Eritrea”. Formerly nomads, they become farmers and breeders. The official policy of the government of Eritrea is that the land is owned by the state. This government encourages large farms.

The Kunama people are a community with a matrilineal organization, with clans and sub-clans, elected assemblies and councils of elders in the villages. Singer Dehab Faytinga, who has been particularly active in highlighting the musical tradition of the Kunama people, indicates that music and songs accompany the work in the fields but also traditional ceremonies, such as the great annual ceremony, Kundura. During this ceremony, all members of the community wear ritual clothing and adornments, and speak and sing in a language of the spirits that only the elders understand.