Homeland
The Taveta live in the well-watered pocket around Taveta town, Lake Jipe and Lake Chala at the foot of Kilimanjaro. The 2009 census counted 20,828 Taveta.
Language and origins
The language is Kitaveta, also written Kituweta, a Bantu language. The community formed from Bantu settlers related to the Pare, Shambaa and Kamba, together with Maa-speaking refugees whom they absorbed.
Livelihood and history
The Taveta are farmers who grow bananas under irrigation. In the nineteenth century their forest settlement was a famous caravan halt.
Today
Swahili is universal in Taveta, and like most Kenyans, Taveta people today are Christian or Muslim and often speak English too.
Sources
From The Peoples of Kenya: An Ethnographic Reference (Kenya Experience, November 2026), a synthesis of published sources. Practices described as traditional are historical baselines; today most Kenyans are Christian or Muslim, live in or near towns and speak Swahili and English. Spot something to correct? Write to kibetck@kenyaexperience.org.
