About the Maasai of South Western Kenya

The Maasai of South-western Kenya are known world over for their unscratched culture. They have some the most guarded traditions. Famous as herders and warriors who once dominated the savanna plains of East Africa, the Maasai are now confined to a fraction of their former range. They have not strayed from the traditional ways of life and prefer to remain nomadic, moving as their needs necessitate. As the economy grow, the open plains are fast-disappearing and the Maasai may one day soon find it more difficult to roam their open plains.

Guardians of the Savanna

The cattle tracks that cut deep in the solid rock of Kajiado are evidence enough that the Masai have been roaming for a long time. Although the rock found in the area is soft it must have taken hundred of years to cut two feet or more in depth. The earliest explorers of British East Africa described them as a powerful tribe who held undisputed sway on the plains, raided all the surrounding tribes, and demanded tribute from all who passed. Today, the Maasai are sadly reduced in numbers. Remarkably, they maintain their position as a powerful and unique tribe in Kenya. Most notable about them is that the “military organization of the tribe which is distinctly good, forces divisions into sections and parties under different leaders, and each man knows his place and takes his part without delay or argument”

The Famed Warrior

The weapons of the Maasai warrior consist of a spear, shield, sword and club. The spear has a long iron blade about two feet long, and at the other extremity an iron point so as to permit of the spear being stood upright in the ground when the warrior stands or rests. The sword worn on the left side is made of soft steel and about two feet long. It is enclosed in a leather sheath, and is often shaped like a Boman sword. The wooden club is held in the left hand under the shield.

The Hardworking Maasai Girl

The Maasai girl grows up without having to pass through all the ceremonies that a boy has to undergo. As a wife she is responsible for building and maintaining the hut, she must fetch the firewood and water, milk the cows, look after the calves and care for the children. When the family is moving to another site she must load and unload the donkeys; sometimes she may travel to a trading center to buy beads, sugar, tobacco, ochre and maize meal. At other times she must clean and prepare the hides, as well as making bead ornaments. She is indeed busy! The huts, which are built by women, are the usual long, low structures of wattle, plastered with cow-dung. The walls inside are very strong and hard, and last for a year or more. Inside, this long hut is divided into compartments by interior walls, the different rooms being connected by narrow doors. The onana’s hut is built in the same style as the usual hut, but is slightly bigger.

Traditional Life of the Maasai

The life of a Maasai largely depends on whether he is a man or a woman. A young male will gradually pass through the stages of boy (olaiyoni), warrior (olmurani) or elder (olmorou). The boys are gathered into age groups and belong to either the Right Hand or Left Hand age group. They are responsible for protecting the village and guarding the cattle.Because the Maasai are semi-nomadic their huts are only temporary. A frame is constructed on bend sticks and their spaces filled with grass and leaves; the whole circular hut is then plastered with a mixture of earth and cow dung. The inside of the house is divided into two – one room is for the warrior and the other is for the children and the elderly. The huts of 2-5 families are build close together in a circle and surrounded by a fence on thorn bushes for protection.

Born to Roam the Plains

The Maasai are totally dependent upon their herd of cattle, sheep and goats. Only during drought will they buy maize meal to supplement their diet. Their animals provide them with milk, meat and blood, but they are only killed if their meat is required for a special ceremony. Although the Maasai will also eat roots, barks, wild fruits and drink honey beer, they will not eat the meat of wild animals, birds or fish. Because cattle, sheep and goats are so useful to him, it is the ambition of every Maasai to own a great herd; the more the animal  the greater his power and prestige. Consequently, the herds are often too large for the amount of vegetation and water that is available, so that soil erosion and starvation occur during drought. Each family needs between 60 to 70 animals to provide it with its subsistence requirements and sell in order to buy goods and to pay for school fees and taxes.  This concentration causes trampling and destruction of vegetation around the water holes, which makes erosion more likely. During the wet seasons, however, surface water is plentiful and the herd spread widely over the plains, which gives the trampled grass time to recover.

Deceptive Life of the Maasai

The life of the traditional Maasai seems deceptively simple. Herding cattle in the vast open savanna plains. Their main challenge is to find a watering hole for their cattle. The traditional Maasai is slowly been displaced from their land as development and developers take up the land. The Maasai lifestyle is at a delicate, maybe historic, moment. The change of land use in the south-western region region – for ranching and development – means the Maasai are getting restricted to the lesser fertile areas of the plains. It is starting to look like a revolution. Whatever the outcome of all these changes, the Maasai will have to adapt to the changing land use and the growth of technology in the region.

Fascinating Maasai Rituals

Call them traditional, we call them unique. The fascinating Maasai rituals sets them apart as one of the most distinct tribes. The Maasai are known world over for their unscratched culture and lifestyle. They have some of the most fascinating rituals. The Maasai’s weight in the Kenya’s Tourism Industry means that they have commanded the world’s interest.  However, as the number of the traditional Maasai continue to dwindle, as new land use and development take up land previously used for the Maasai for grazing, they may have to re-evaluate their lifestyle.

But rapid development can look messy close up, as anthropologists would explain; and there seems to be much going wrong with the Maasai’s ways.  But the traditional life of the Maasai is still surprisingly vibrant.  It is not where it used to be, but outsider’s concern, that the traditional ways of the Maasai’s are almost extinct is not justified.  At the moment, it is likely to prove more resilient than its detractors fear.  Their difficulties, and they are considerable, will emerge later on.

A Tribe of We

Namers of a Nation

That Strange Posture

That strange posture affected by Maasai, that of standing on one leg with the other resting on the inside of the thigh would take the rest of us some getting used to.  If not awkward, it is definitely uncomfortable. This unique posture suits the Maasai’s workstation. Being semi nomadic the Maasai spend quite a considerable part of their day in the field-work of grazing cattle. But the African Savannah is not your typical work station! It is unforgiving, with predators and raiders lurking in every corner.  So, the Maasai has to always keep a close watch over his priced possession. As a result, the Maasai affects this posture to rest one leg at a time, only resting where he feels his herd is safe, at which point he can sit while the animals graze or drink.

Along Came A Spear

The Maasai warrior almost always carries his spear everywhere he goes.  When resting while on a journey he usually spears it upright into the ground so that he can rest upon it. The spear has a long iron blade about 2″ long, and at the other end an iron point to permit the spear to be stood up upright when the warrior stands to rest. In case of alarm, and on the off-chance his spear misses the target with his spear, the weapon of choice, the Maasai has two more options – a blade, held in a leather sheath or a wooden club.

Perhaps more intriguing is what happens to the spear when the Maasai returns to his Manyatta. It has been widely written that on entering his hut, the Maasai spears it to the ground to the left hand side of the doorway, as he goes in.  A ritual that has been the subject of many a myth.

Some say, the reason is that in case of an alarm, the spear will be ready to hand, and on the right side as he emerges from the hut. Others believe it simply symbolizes that the Maasai is back from his day job.  Still others believe, leaving the spear outside is a gesture of respect.  When visiting a fellow warrior from the same age-group, the Maasai will leave his spear at the entrance of the hut. This is because only the owner of the manyatta can place the spears inside a special chamber.

They Are The Maasai’s Cattle

Cattle means food, riches, wives and position for the Maasai.  So highly do they regard their cattle that the loss or mauling of a warrior is considered of less consequence than the loss of a cow.  The Maasai myths of origin narrate that all the cattle in the world originally belonged to the Maasai, and so they probably excuse themselves under the plea that they are only taking back their property to raid neighboring communities.  Maasai led cattle raids have existed for centuries. According to their mythology, the Maasai descended from heaven with his cows by means of a rope and settled on the plains where he found the Maasai woman with whom he started a family.  Historians believe the particular rope in the mythology refers to the River Nile along which the Maasai migrated south from Egypt, origin home of the Nilotic tribes. The blue sky denotes the interrupted blue of the Mediterranean Sea as it disappeared into the horizon. 

The Inside Ring

Maasai cattle occupy the center of the Manyatta (home). Watches are kept at night by the women. This is to allow the warriors to turn out fresh in case of alarm. For this purpose the porches of the huts have the doorways arranged so as to face the entrance to the Maasai homestead, so that the women may sit in the shadow of the porch and watch the weak spots in the fence.

A Very Lean Diet

Traditionally, the Maasai lived entirely on blood, meat and milk off their flock. Blood from the live cow is drawn by fastening a rope tight around the neck, and then shooting a certain shaped arrow into a vein.  It then spurts out into a guard.  Despite living in the plains they hardly ever hunt game for meat.  This agreeable relationship with wildlife has always intrigued many observers of the culture.  As a result, the Maasai who live near national parks like Amboseli are not restricted in any way from entering the reserves to graze and water their animals.

Hands-Off, Heads-Up

The Maasai have a fascinating array of salutations, not least, that of children saluting their elders by butting them in the stomach with their heads.  The tradition is easily observable, and among the more conservative Maasai elders they simply touch the top of a child head, never shaking hands. At this early point in life the Maasai boy has no privileges; until he has been circumcised. A young man is not allowed to marry until he is a full-fledged warrior.  The Maasai boy assumes the rank of warrior after circumcision, which will be about the age of 13 to 17 years, depending on how well his body is developed.  Each circumcision consists of 3 ceremonies spread over4 years.

A Wild After Party

If you’re tired of going to after parties with a recurring theme perhaps you should consider inviting a Maasai to help you plan the most unforgettable night of your life. The Maasai consider it necessary to celebrate circumcision ceremonies with raids.  They attack in the usual savage formation of a long single row of spear-men, advancing with shouts and noises intended to frighten the enemy.  The Maasai learns to be fearless at a very tender age but this would leave anyone else traumatized.

At The Braai-Side

Despite living almost entirely on meat and milk, the Maasai sometimes go for months without touching meat, being averse to killing their stock.  When the occasion does presents itself, trust the Maasai to keep it unique. The whole shebang is carried out casually using little more than the blades the Maasai carry on their waist. Their meat is almost universally roasted, never boiled! When it’s time to eat, a large piece of meat is held in the left hand, the end is placed in the mouth and cut across with a knife while been held between the teeth.  Unknown to Maasai perhaps, is that 10,800 kms away, the nomadic colorful Gaucho cowmen of Argentina, who share a similar love for cattle, have an almost identical ritual of eating meat.

What Afterlife?

The Maasai traditionally have no belief in an afterlife for any but the chief.  For the same reason, only the chief was buried so that he may have a final resting place to fulfill his destiny.  A layer of stone is usually built over the Chief’s grave and anyone who passed by afterwards added a stone to the top of the pile.  This peculiar traditional burial ritual is also dicoverable among the semi-nomadic Turkana tribe of North-Western Kenya who stack stones on top of their burial sites.

The Maasai Akala

Shoes have historically been a powerful symbol status.  Every shoe tells a story. Shoes speak of status, gender (usually), ethnicity, religion, profession, and politics; and as for the Maasai, their “akala” speaks volume about their way of life. The Akala shoe, made of nothing more than rubber from old tires, stitched together with nails and tough glue, seems best for their nomadic ways. And as tough as their shoe is, over time it shows signs of wear of tear after many miles of walking the savanna.  The older the akala, and the more wear and tear is shows, the more respect the owner gets from his companions.  It is indeed evidence of the vast distance the Maasai warrior has covered across the county.