[citation needed]They dwell in six communities in northern Tanzania, on the hills between the upper and lower western escarpments of the Rift Valley, above Lake Natron.

The District Headquarters are currently located at Loliondo, 20 kilometers to the north-west across the hills from the main Sonjo villages (as the crow flies).

According to a story, during a battle for the Uru throne, those defeated by Mangi Mkuruo fled and settled northwest of Mount Meru.

Glynn Isaac and Richard Leakey's 'Sonjo Expedition' in 1963-64 (to examine Pleistocene fossiliferous strata) discovered Sonjo living and cultivating at Peninyi.

[2] Old Sonjo communities were compact and fortified, standing on strong defensive locations on hillsides above the neighboring plains, surrounded by impenetrable thorn thickets, and secured by many wooden stake entrances.

Nyerere's ujamaa program (rural'socialism' and villagization) in the 1970s had a considerable impact on Sonjo settlement patterns.

Ironically, given that one purpose of the initiative was to concentrate scattered populations, such 'villagization' pushed Sonjo, in 1975, to migrate out of their tight sites into the flatter lands below.

In the case of Digodigo Jigo, the residents relocated 500 meters east of the creek from which their irrigation water was drawn, and named the area Moholo.

[4] The group of traditional leaders (singular mwenamijie, plural wenamijie) who govern the usage of irrigation water, arable land, and trees is the most visible political organization in each community.

[4] The wenamijie make choices collaboratively, and the post is hereditary in the sense that a dead mwenamijie's disciple is chosen from his tribe.

Today, as ethnic tensions between the Sonjo and the Maasai have subsided, the political relevance of the warriors has waned.

He refused to help with the collective labor of repairing the irrigation channels and played tricks on the Tinaga residents.

[4] When Ghambageu died, he insisted on being laid out on a flat stone to dry in the sun rather than buried.

When the Samunge villagers learnt of Ghambageu's death, they hurried to Kisangiro and demanded that the burial be opened.

[4] On the outskirts of Samunge, adjacent to the road leading to the neighboring village of Digodigo, there lies a stone under a thatched roof.

The wenamijie viewed Christian mission as a threat to the Sonjo culture and society's unity and continuance.

The Sonjo also maintain terraced village sites, albeit of considerably more rudimentary form than what is found at Engaruka.

The task of maintaining canals and dams is organized and managed by an institutionalized group of elders (wenamiji) in each community, with the labor mostly the responsibility of young men (batana).

In recent decades, there has been a significant exodus from the main Sonjo villages to what appear to be permanent communities some distance distant.

But, since then, the Sonjo have started rearing cattle in large numbers without suffering too much from Maasai attacks (save in the outlying districts of Peninyi and Masusu during the late-1980s assaults).

Magare is a light sandy terrain that is well-drained and often sloping, and it is planted primarily in March, as the rains begin, and harvested in June, when they cease.

[2] The old grains sorghum was produced more extensively than finger millet (which is less susceptible of water-logging), serving as the principal staple, as it still does in many Sonjo homes today, despite the introduction of maize and the root carbohydrates cassava and sweet potato.

Other bean cultivars, banana, maize, cucurbits, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, tobacco, papaya, and in a few areas mango, lime, and lemon are also produced presently, having been introduced since the 1960s.

Many of these crops, however, are farmed by a small group of individuals, primarily younger farmers, those who have worked extensively outside Sonjo, and strangers such as church employees.

Calabashes are another important crop that appears to be well-established, and its sale to Maasai (as receptacles, particularly for milk) is a significant source of wealth.