A trip to a local Maasai Village
One day Peter took me to a local Maasai (sometimes spelled "Masai" or "Masaai") Village to learn about their customs, traditions and lifestyles. The Maasai are a Nilotic ethnic group of semi-nomadic people located in Kenya and northern Tanzania. The Maasai are among the best known of African ethnic groups due to their residence near the many game parks of East Africa and their distinctive customs and dress. The people speak Maa and are also educated in the official languages of Kenya: Swahili and English. The Maasai territory reached its largest size in the mid-19th century and covered almost all of the Great Rift Valley and adjacent lands from Mount Marsabit in the north to Dodoma in the south. Starting with a 1904 treaty and followed by another in 1911, Maasai lands in Kenya were reduced by 60 percent when the British evicted them to make room for settler ranches. The Maasai have demanded grazing rights to many of the national parks in Tanzania and Kenya. Maasai land now contains East African's finest game areas.
Simon, a well spoken and educated young Maasai was my tour guide. He is studying social sciences at college. His father is the medicine man in the village and his brother is studying medicine under his father .
A group of young children came to say hello. The children were all very friendly.
The Tanzanian and Kenyan governments have instituted programs to encourage the Maasai to abandon their traditional semi-nomadic lifestyle, but the people have continued in their age-old customs. Over the years, many projects have begun to help Maasai tribal leaders find ways to preserve their traditions while also balancing the education needs of their children for the modern world. The emerging forms of employment among the Maasai include farming, business(selling of traditional medicine, running of restaurants/shops, buying and selling of minerals, selling milk and milk products and wage employment (as security guards/watchmen, waiters, tourist guides) and others who are engaged in the public and private sectors. Many Maasai were working at the lodges in Kenya-these jobs are difficult to get.
Maasai society is strongly patriarchal in nature, with elder men sometimes joined by retired elders, deciding most major matters for each Maasai group. I did not see any elders during my visit as they were most likely out with the cattle. However, there were many young men in the village wearing their traditional costumes and performing dances for the tourists as well as selling jewelry and crafts.
These young men performed some dances for me. I was the only visitor in the village.
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Girls are responsible for chores such as cooking and milling, skills which they learn from their mothers at an early age. The traditional diet of these people consists of raw milk, raw blood and raw meat so I'm not not sure how much cooking is actually done. Simon told me that this is what the people in his village still eat. I have also read that more recently the Maasai have grown dependent on food produced in other areas such as maize meal, rice, potatoes, cabbage etc.
I was at the village at the worse time of the day for lighting. |
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The piercing and stretching of earlobes is common among the Maasai. Various materials have been used to both pierce and stretch the lobes, including thorns for piercing, twigs, bundles of twigs, stones, the cross section of elephant tusks and empty film canisters. Fewer and fewer Maasai, particularly boys follow this custom. Women wear various forms of beaded ornaments in both the ear lobe and smaller piercings at the top of the ear.
Young boys are sent out with the calves and lambs as soon as they can walk but childhood for boys is mostly playtime.
The women spend a good part of their day making jewelry to sell.
I had to include at least one animal picture. The puppy was so cute.
Villages are enclosed in a circular fence built by the men, usually of throned acacia. At night cows, goats and sheep are placed in an enclosure in the centre safe from wild animals.
Most of the laundry is hung on the twigs to dry. Everything is washed in the river where the people also bathe.
A woman going into her house. The traditional Maasai house was designed for people on the move and was very impermanent in nature. The houses are constructed by able-bodied women. The structural framework is formed of timber poles fixed directly into the ground and interwoven with a lattice of smaller branches which is then plastered with a mix of mud, sticks, grass, cow dung and ash. The cow dung ensures that the roof is water-proof.
The houses are very small measuring about 3x5 m and standing only 1.5m high. Within this space, the family cooks, eats, sleeps, socializes and stores food, fuel and other household possessions. I went into Simon's house and it was very small, dark and fairly damp. Small livestock are also often kept in the house at night.
A typical scene in the village.
The men demonstrated how to start a fire without the traditional tools.
Success. I am not sure where the nescafe packaging came from.
The Maasai sell beautiful jewelry and crafts.
The Maasai are traditionally polygynous. This is thought to be a long standing and practical adaptation to high infant and warrior morality rates. Simon's father had three wives and Simon had many half brothers and sisters. He told me that everyone got along very well and took care of each other.
When I was ready to leave I met some young students coming back from school.
The kids were happy to have their photos taken and look at the pictures on the LCD screen on the back of the camera to see pictures of themselves.
One last picture before heading back to the lodge. It was a very interesting and educational tour. I found the people very friendly and Simon was an excellent guide.