The Vadoma – The Ostrich People with Two Toes of Zimbabwe

The Vadoma People, also known as the Bantwana tribe, are from northern Zimbabwe, namely the Zambezi River basin in the districts of Sipolilo and Urungwe. Because of the nature of their feet—they only have two big toes on each foot—many members of this indigenous group are unable to wear shoes.

They lack the middle three toes and only have what would be the big toe and the “small last” toe on a typical foot. Even though they are able to walk with their two existing toes bent inward, it is rather difficult for them to sprint, too. They are thought to be excellent tree climbers, nevertheless, because of their unusual feet. In their stories, the elders of Vadoma claim that their forefathers, who they think came from the stars, were bird-like in nature and that they mated with the first women in the region to produce children with such unusual feet. According to the elders, their earliest ancestors left Sirius, a star system, and founded their first colonies on a planet in our Solar System known locally as Liitolafisi.

A significant portion of the VaDoma population suffers from ectrodactyly, a disorder in which the foot’s three middle toes are gone and the two that are there are bent inward. Because of this, the members of this tribe have been called the “Ostrich-Foot” or “Two-Toed” people. This disorder is autosomal dominant and is caused by a single mutation on chromosome 7. Reports about that tribe indicate that those who are found to have that ailment are not seen as disabled; rather, they are fully integrated into the rest of the native population. Intermarriages do not occur among the VaDoma people, despite the fact that this condition makes them excellent tree climbers. This is mostly because local customs prohibit them from marrying someone who is not from their tribe.

The ectrodactyly condition has persisted among the VaDoma people since they are often an isolated group. Because of this, there are more cases of this limited gene pool among them than anyplace else in the world. It was hypothesised that these two societies might be connected in some manner as similar condition has also been seen in some members of the Eastern Shona Kalanga community, which is located in the Kalahari Desert.

The Vadoma Tribe: The Mysterious Ostrich-Footed People of Zimbabwe