[6] The people and the language of roughly the northern one-third of the River Tana towards Garisa are known as Malakote (also known as Ilwana or El-Wana).

Within Pokomo, considerable linguistic variation occurs at all levels: lexical, phonological and morphological.

Van Otterloo assess the level of lexical similarity between UP and LP as much the same as that between Giriama and Digo.

This demonstrates that Pokomo are not part of the Mijikenda community, which is composed of nine sub-tribes, the Kauma, Chonyi, Jibana, Giriama, Kambe, Ribe, Rabai, Duruma and Digo.

The farmlands are within the riverline on both sides of the river stretching an average of 3 miles or until the farms touches the sandy soils.

The LP occupy the entire Tana Delta (which starts at Baomo) to the mouth of the River before it empties into the Indian Ocean; however, currently some UP have settled together with the LP in the villages of Kipini, Ozi, Kilelengwani, Chara, Chamwanamuma, and Kau among other villages up to Lamu Archipelago and its surrounding islands.

The story is told that the name Lamu came from the word Muyamu, which means "in-laws", that is, the Pokomo intermarried with Arabs during the 12th to 13th century.

[7] In Bishop Steers' biography (1869)[8] he wrote about Liongo Fumo, whose grave, water well and settlement can all be found in Ozi village.

Kingozi language is the precursor of Swahili as quoted on page 98 in The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea: Travel and Trade in the Indian Ocean.

[9] The Pokomo culture is rich in folk tales, songs, dances, weddings, arts/artifacts to name but just a few.

[citation needed] The marriage process within the Pokomo community includes specific conditions (Maadha).

After she is consulted and has given the green light, the groom's parents come back with hasi (a reed basket) as sign that they are ready to move to the next level.

The song was composed by Mzee Meza Morowa Galana of Makere village, Gwano in Wenje division.

Pokomo people use music to blend their culture in celebrating harvest, fishing, hunting, wedding, circumcision and when new babies were born.

Land was earlier distributed by the Kijo and Gasa Council of elders to each sub-tribe as indicated in the names of the villages they live in.

This was meant to avoid conflicts when the river changes its course; (b) Mihema ya Walume - these are virgin lands that do not belong to anybody, but are used by those who develop it.

(c) Bada - (loosely translated as "forest"), were preserved for medicinal plants, firewood and to provide building materials.

The Pokomo eat Tana river catfish (mtonzi, or, if it is the largest, it is called mpumi), tilapia (ntuku), trout (ningu), eel (mamba) and crocodile (ngwena).

Other food sources include plantains, palm tree seeds, bananas, peas and pumpkins.

Pokomos depend on the flooding regime of the Tana to grow rice, bananas, green grams, beans and maize.

Sima (stiff cornmeal porridge) has become the staple Pokomo dish due to the changing or absence of river flooding regimes and weather that is not able to support rice cultivation.

At times during the year people would gather near the sacred places (Ngaji) in the night singing and dancing and the Kijo leader would emerge from the sacred forest in the middle of the night walking on poles covered with a white dress and his face covered with a mask.

He walked around and danced to the sound of beating drums and returned to the forest, leaving behind a hysterical crowd of people believing that their issues had been solved spiritually.

During flood seasons, people erected structures above the water level, which are known in the Pokomo community as Mahandaki.

Before settling at Kitere village religious cleansing rituals were conducted to drive away the haunting spirits.

Mulungu (UP) or Mungu (LP) is the universal being of the Pokomo, referring to God the creator of everything.

Due to increased population growth and the introduction of Christianity and Islam, these sacred places were converted to farmlands.

The former sacred place at mji wa walevu,, translated to mean village of the elders, is less than 1 km from Hola Mission and Laza Trading Centres.