Before Whiteman’s towers, Dinkas were already there!

Dinka, also called Jieng, people who live in the savanna country surrounding the central swamps of the Nile basin primarily in South Sudan. They speak a Nilotic language classified within the Eastern Sudanic branch of the Nilo-Saharan languages and are closely related to the Nuer.

Before Whiteman’s towers, Dinkas were already there with clay hut which has upper room and down stairs. Dinka upper clay huts(hot-nhial or aduel in Dinka language) were there ever since in their history. The Jieng upper rooms reach up to 4.3 meters high.

Dinka people are cattle keepers many of them saty at the cattle camps throughout their lives, those who remain back homes use upper rooms.

Dinka used upper room because those days wild animals and man eaters could attack them when sleeping down rooms; others used it due to floods.

These clay upper room huts are mostly found within the sides of Bahr el Gazal  i.e (Yirol, Rumbek, Tonj, Gogrial…) Below are some of the photos of upper clay huts:

Dinka are sometimes noted for their height. With the Tutsi of Rwanda, they are believed to be the tallest people in Africa. Dinka’s Manute Bol a Sudanese-born American basketball player and political activist. Listed at 7 ft 7 in tall, Bol was one of the two tallest players in the history of the National Basketball Association. He is an example of Dinka height.