Maasai Cultural Tour

According to their own oral history, the Maasai originated from the lower Nile valley north of Lake Turkana (North-West Kenya) and began migrating south around the fifteenth century, arriving in a long trunk of land stretching from northern Kenya to central Tanzania between the seventeenth and late eighteenth century. Other ethnic groups were forcibly displaced as they settled there. [1] The Maasai territory reached its largest size in the mid-nineteenth century, and covered almost all of the Great Rift Valley and adjacent lands from Mount Marsabit in the north to Dodoma in the south.[6] At this time the Maasai, as well as the larger group they were part of, raided cattle as far east as the Tanga coast in Tanzania. Raiders used spears and shields, but were most feared for throwing clubs (orinka) which could be accurately thrown from up to 70 paces (appx. 100 meters). In 1852 there was a report of a concentration of 800 Maasai warriors on the move in Kenya. In 1857, after having depopulated the "Wakuafi wilderness" in southeastern Kenya, Maasai warriors threatened Mombasa on the coast of Kenya.

The period of expansion was followed by the Maasai "Emutai" of 1883-1902. This period was marked by epidemics of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, rinderpest, and smallpox. The estimate first put forward by a German lieutenant in what was then northwest Tanganyika, was that 90 per cent of cattle and half of wild animals perished from rinderpest. German doctors in the same area claimed that "every second" African had a pock-marked face as the result of smallpox. This period coincided with drought. Rains failed completely in 1897 and 1898. [3]

The Austrian explorer Oscar Baumann traveled in Maasai lands in 1891-1893, and described the old Maasai settlement in the Ngorongoro Crater in the 1894 book Durch Massailand zur Nilquelle ("Through the lands of the Maasai to the source of the Nile"): "There were women wasted to skeletons from whose eyes the madness of starvation glared ... warriors scarcely able to crawl on all fours, and apathetic, languishing elders. Swarms of vultures followed them from high, awaiting their certain victims." By one estimate two-thirds of the Maasai died during this period. [4]

Starting with a 1904 treaty, [5] 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, subsequently confining them to present-day Kajiado and Narok districts.[6] Maasai in Tanzania were displaced from the fertile lands between Mount Meru and Mount Kilimanjaro, and most of the fertile highlands near Ngorongoro in the 1940s.[8][7] More land was taken to create wildlife reserves and national parks: Amboseli, Nairobi National Park, Masai Mara, Samburu, Lake Nakuru, and Tsavo in Kenya; Manyara, Ngorongoro, Tarangire [8] and Serengeti in Tanzania.

Maasai are pastoralist and have resisted the urging of the Tanzanian and Kenyan governments to adopt a more sedentary lifestyle. They have demanded grazing rights to many of the national parks in both countries.

 The Maasai stood against slavery and lived alongside most wild animals with an aversion to eating game and birds. Maasai land now has East Africa's finest game areas. Maasai society never condoned traffic of human beings, and outsiders looking for people to enslave avoided the Maasai.[9]

Essentially there are twelve geographic sectors of the tribe, each one having its own customs, appearance, leadership and dialects. These subdivisions are known as the Keekonyokie, Damat, Purko, Wuasinkishu, Siria, Laitayiok, Loitai, Kisonko, Matapato, Dalalekutuk, Loodokolani and Kaputiei.[9]

Itinerary

Day 1
Depart from Moshi in the morning to Arusha where we will stop at Shop Rite so you can purchase snacks or drinks for your safari. It is also a good idea to get a little something for the children of the Maasai village such as candy. After Shop Rite, we will travel to Meserani Snake Park where you can do any or all of three activities; visit the snake and reptile park with a guided tour, ride a camel, and/or visit the Maasai Cultural Museum. Lunch will be served here. This is also a great place to purchase gifts and crafts made by the Maasai mamas. They are both beautiful and reasonably priced.

After a stop at the local Maasai market where you can see locals trading and selling their goods, we will arrive at Monduli Village. You will first be greeted by the many children of the village who are curious to see the white people. Then, you will be greeted by the Maasai men and women who will dress you in traditional clothing and give you a tour of the village. While you are enjoying visiting with the Maasai and learning about them, our cooks will be preparing dinner. After dinner, you are encouraged to join the men and women in traditional Maasai dancing and singing. It is really an unforgettable experience.

Day 2
After breakfast, the men and women will join the maasai to take part in their everyday choirs to see how a maasai lives. The women are hard workers and spend their day fetching water and milking cows and the men will teach you how to throw a spear and take care of cattle. The men will partake in a very special celebratory custom; the sacrifice of a goat. This tradition has been taking place for as long as the maasai were hunting and gathering on the plains of East Africa. After lunch, you will meet with the chief and medicine man of the village for an educational lecture on local customs and medicines.

After saying goodbye to the villagers we will depart for Moshi and return there in the evening.