The Mandara people, also known as Wandala or Mandwara, are a Central African traditionalist ethnic group found in north Cameroon northeastern Nigeria, and southeastern Chad.

[6] Their historic lands have been midst a densely populated river valley surrounded by volcanic mountains rich in iron ore, famed as a horse breeding area.

The Mandara people have lived in dispersed villages, each with a mosque, growing sorghum as their principal crop and producing iron tools that were sought by traders and other ethnic groups.

[4][12][8] The Mandara people wear Muslim dress typically of northern Africa, and they carry leather amulets around their neck that contains verses from the Quran.

[13] The Mandara society developed into a socially stratified system, with Sultan and royalty, farmers, horse breeders, artisans, iron workers and smiths forming a distinct endogamous occupation-inheriting castes.