What is "abbala"

The Abbala people are an Arabic ethnic group of the Sahel. The Abbala are named after their subsistence practice of camel herding. The term Abbala is mostly used to distinguish from the Baggara, a grouping of Arabic ethnicities which herd cattle. According to Braukämp (1993) some of the Abbala people experienced a cultural change to Baggara culture after being pushed from the Sahel region into the savanna. This resulted in a switch in livestock to cattle, which are better adapted to the savanna environment.