Masai

Masai Tribe

The Masai Tribe, while not one of the Big Five tribes of Tanzania, has been the most successful at keeping its traditions. Under socialism, there was great pressure put upon all of the tribes to abandon their teachings, language and traditions. Many people were forcibly relocated, and tribes scattered in an attempt to build a more homogeneous nation-state. Ultimately this was accomplished, and Tanzania is one of few countries in Africa without tribal conflict. However, this success came at the price of losing much of its identity. The exception is the Masai.

The Masai are nomadic, even today. They live primarily in the north part of the country, and tend their cattle and goat herds. They follow the pastures through the wet and dry seasons, and cover a substantial distance. Their life is simple. Because they are nomadic, they have escaped most of the government attempts to settle them. That also means they remain poor and uneducated.

To understand the Masai is to understand cattle and grass. The cattle provide the majority of the Masai nutrition, through milk most of the year and blood during the drought. Cattle are the possessions of the Masai  and their wealth. Payments of dowries are made in cattle. The people are nomadic because they follow the grasses between the raining and dry seasons.

The Masai have progressively lost their ancestral lands. Much of the Serengeti National Park was Masai land, as was the Ngorongoro Reserve. The Masai were removed from the Park, and their activities in the Reserve are restricted. For example, they may take their herds into the crater for water during the day, but may not spend the night.

During the dry season, the Masai tend their herds near ponds, which fill with water during the rainy season. By the end of the dry season, these are often parched, and the Masai women must walk 10-20 km (6-12 miles) to fill buckets and return with water. The Masai women do most of the work, including fetching water and firewood, food collection and preparation, and household chores. The men do very little. Traditionally, the role of the men is of warriors. Since the Masai believe that all cattle were initially given to the Masai  a chief activity of the Masai warriors was to collect the cattle from nearby tribes, returning them to the Masai (that is, cattle rustling).

While driving through the great open plains to the Serengeti, we observe many Masai  They are walking with their herds through space that seems devoid of any signs of human activity or occupation. Many of the herds are tended by children, who sit together and play and pass the day. Despite the scorching heat and the blowing dust, and the apparent distance from their shelters, no one seems to have any satchels of food or water. They seem to be just stark figures out in the plains. In fact from a distance, you simply see the dark images of the animals, with one or two bright red spots in the herd. These are the Masai  seemingly with no more possessions than the livestock themselves, and the red cloth wrapped around their bodies in the equatorial sun.

When a boy reaches the age of twelve, he can become a warrior. He and an elder go off for seven days, and he receives all of the ancient instructions in being a man, a husband, and a warrior. At the end of the seven days, he is circumcised. He then paints his face with white chalk, and dresses in a black robe to signify his status as a warrior. He retains this paint and dress for many months, even up to a year, to be sure that all neighboring peoples recognize his new status.

Today, the ritual has taken on a new, less inspiring meaning. The warriors no longer take their neighbor's cattle. Instead, the new warriors have discovered that tourists will pay for photos, so the new warriors are found along roadsides waving down cars and posing for pictures. Sadly, the traditions that escaped socialism may now finally succumb to capitalism.

As travelers, it troubles us that our very presence changes that which we visit. We strongly believe that westerners and Americans in particular are very ignorant of the peoples of most of the world, and need to travel more and experience other cultures to reduce our own biases and gain more understanding. Americans have the greatest impact of any country on other peoples, yet have very little knowledge. However, it is problematic how to learn without changing the very people that we came to learn from.