The Maasai tribe lives on the wide plains in Southern and Northern Kenya and Northern Tanzania. They are among the best known local populations due to their residence near the many game parks of the African Great Lakes, as well as their distinctive customs and dress. The Maasai were famous fighters. They used to raid the neighbouring tribes and carry away their cattle. All the other tribes were afraid of them because of their skills in war.
The Maasai are handsome people, tall and slim with light brown skins, straight noses and long hair. They do not belong completely to the Negro race. They belong mostly to the same race as the people of ancient Egypt. The ancient Egyptians probably looked like the Maasais of today.
The Maasais live in a very beautiful part of Africa. It consists of miles of rolling grassland, on which you can find thorny bushes and here and there a rocky hill. The people move from one place to another according to the seasons, looking for the grasses and other plants on which their cattle can graze. They have no permanent home. When they want to settle in a place for some time, they build a kind of camp called a 'Manyatta', where a few families live for a few weeks or months. Then they move on again, taking their few belongings with them, and burning the old 'Manyatta' to the ground.
To make a hut, they take a number of long thin wooden poles and plant them in a circle. The each pole is bent into a shape of a 'U' and its other end is also planted in the Earth. Now the framework for the hut is ready.
Next, the space between the poles is filled with leaves, and small branches of tree and mud Then the outside of Earth hut is covered or plastered with cow-dung, which quickly become hard in the sun. An opening is left for the door but there are no windows. The hut is about 5 feet high, so that grown-up men cannot stand up straight inside his hut. There is no furniture, except perhaps a small wooden stool for the head of the family.
The huts are arranged in a big circle. Around the outside of the circle the Maasais build a thorn fence, about 7 feet high, with several openings so that the people can go in and out with their cattle. After dark, all the openings are closed. Then all the people and cattle in the "Manyatta' are safe from wild animals.
Nowadays there are no wars between the tribes. So a Maasai worrior has very little to do now But they sometimes go hunting. The Maasais like to kill lions with spears, and a lion-hunt is a great test of courage. The warrior who first kills a lion is given great honour, and he wears the lion's mane round his neck to show that he is a lion-killer.
The Maasais are fairly well-to-do and intelligent and live comfortable lives. However, most of them are happy to live as their ancestors lived hundreds of years ago. The Tanzanian and Kenyan governments have instituted programs to encourage the Maasai to abandon their traditional semi-nomadic lifestyle, but the people have continued their age-old customs .
Many
Maasai tribes throughout Tanzania and Kenya welcome visits to their village to experience
their culture, traditions, and lifestyle.
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