The Ankole is a breed or group of breeds of African cattle, belonging to the broad Sanga cattle grouping of African breeds. It was probably introduced to

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The south ...

between five and seven hundred years ago by nomadic pastoralists from more northerly parts of the continent. It is distributed in much of eastern and central Africa, particularly in Uganda, the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

, Rwanda, Burundi and parts of Tanzania. There are at least five distinct regional strains, some of which may be reported as breeds in their own right. These include: * the Bahima, found in Uganda and the Congo, associated with the Bahima and other peoples; * the Bashi in the Congo; * the Kigezi, kept by

Bakiga Kiga people, or ''Abakiga'' ("people of the mountains"), are a Bantu ethnic group native to south western Uganda and northern Rwanda. History Pre-colonial period The Kiga people are believed to have originated in Rwanda as mentioned in one ...

people in the former Kigezi District of south-western Uganda * the Ruzizi, from the Ruzizi Valley between

Lake Kivu Lake Kivu is one of the African Great Lakes. It lies on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and is in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift. Lake Kivu empties into the Ruzizi River, whi ...

and

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. T ...

* the Watusi, found in Burundi, Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and parts of Tanzania, associated with Watusi or

Tutsi The Tutsi (), or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi (the other two being the largest Bantu ethnic gr ...

people in those areas. Two small herds of the Inyambo strain of Watusi are kept in Rwanda; it is not clear if or how these are related to the royal herd of Inyambo cattle reportedly confiscated and auctioned off in 1964.

References

Cattle breeds {{Cattle-stub