Kenya is a beautiful country full of contrasts.
The peoples’ looks are as diverse as their cultures and lifestyle.
It’s literally a country of the bold, the beautiful, and the ugly.
Here’s a list of the top seven ugliest Kenyan tribes.
1. The Turkana
This Nilotic Kenyan tribe inhabits the dry sun-baked North Western corner of the country.
They struggle with endless droughts and famine that leave them emaciated and looking frail.
The hot sun in the area coupled with hot dry winds makes their skin appear extra dark and cracked.
They practice front teeth extraction as an initiation rite of passage, making their smile a horrible sight to say the least.
2. The Pokot
They’re Plains Nilotes and close relatives of the Kales.
You hardly find any of their kinsmen in urban areas.
They have that hardy and athletic appearance, thanks to the frequent attacks by bandits from neighboring communities.
Life in the plains of Pokot is tough and unforgiving, giving the locals a not-so-good look.
Their reluctance to embrace modern lifestyles exposes them to a lot of hardships that in turn affect their appearance negatively.
3. The El-Molo
This is the third ugliest and smallest tribe in Kenya in terms of numbers.
They’re hardly known by other Kenyans because their population is restricted in small pockets around Lake Turkana.
Just like their Turkana neighbors, they have held on to their traditional culture of fishing and dressing.
They’re mostly super dark and rough skinned and their teeth have a rusty appearance due to drinking the highly fluoridated water from Lake Turkana and its environs.
Smearing red ochre and soil on their faces during cultural festivals gives them a clone-like appearance that’s not appealing at all.
4. The Njemps
This is another small tribe living in the Rift Valley region around Lake Baringo.
They’re ardent traditionalists. Their main economic activities include farming and fishing.
Njemps are generally average in height, dark with narrow dusty faces, red eyes and rusty teeth.
They hardly put on any clothes leaving their heads, faces and body exposed to the ruthless Baringo sun that roasts them and distorts their physical looks.
They hardly groom their hair giving it that unsightly unkempt appearance.
The only thing that brightens their physical outlook is the beaded jewelry they wear all over their bodies.
5. The Kipsigis
They belong to the larger Kalenjin ethnic group and are found mostly in Kericho and Bomet Counties.
They mostly prefer life in the countryside away from towns.
These people hardly know how to dress up smartly and are almost always victims of wardrobe failure.
A brown jacket is the most valued part of their dressing but unfortunately, it doesn’t match well with other colors.
Their front teeth are usually large and protrude outward perhaps due to excessive consumption of Mursik sealing their position as one of the ugliest tribes in Kenya.
A little urban exposure for these folks would probably help them learn how to enhance their looks and know how to mix and match clothes.
6. The Luhya
How can the brothers and sisters from Mulembe Nation miss in this infamous list?
Most Luhyas are physically fit but two things about them weigh down on their looks: the hair and facial appearance.
If you visit the villages deep in Western Kenya, it may take you a number of days before you can differentiate a man from a woman at a glance.
Majority of their women love keeping short hair that makes them appear rather masculine and hard to tell apart from the men.
It’s that serious!
More often than not, a Waluvengo will look facially similar to a Khakasa all the way from childhood to adulthood.
Hopefully, the Naliakas will embrace modern cosmetics and hairstyles to give them a more feminine appearance.
7. The Luo
This is undoubtedly Kenyan Lake Region’s best known tribe.
They got brains and like speaking “Luopean” English spiced up with gigantic vocabulary.
Luo men have well-built masculine bodies and their women are arguably the most curvaceous in the region.
However, the neck-up is where they score poorly.
The “passport” size photo of a Luo man or woman is probably not something you will want to glance at twice.
For the girls, “beauty with brains” would be a far-fetched description.
Perhaps, “beauty with melanin galore” would do.
They mostly have disproportionate facial features such as a large nose with smaller foreheads and large lips, not to mention the excess melanin beneath their skin.
Some, especially the ladies, have taken to use of skin lightening cosmetics in an attempt to get lighter appearance.
