Breakaway Destination Guides (International)

The distinctive image of the Maasai people is well known; ochre clothing, strait backs, huge stamina, bush-craft and bravery. But why are the Maasai people better known than other East African tribes?

The Maasai live in Kenya and Tanzania, and most photographs of them show the tall, lean warriors dressed in red, and wearing beaded jewellery. They herd cattle, and live in huts made from mud and cattle dung. Maasai gender roles are very distinct, with the men (warriors) protecting the people, and the women doing the household work. Though primitive in our eyes, they have a very interesting culture and way of life.

The Maasai god is called Enkai. Enkai is seen as male and female at the same time. In the Maasai religion, Enkai is believed to manifest in many forms, including in mountains, colours and the moon. A religious leader of the Maasai is called a Laibon. They are believed to descend from Enkai and therefore have religious authority. They are believed to have the power to heal and to give prophesies. A Laibon isn’t a political leader but he does have the right to declare wars.

A big part of the Maasai culture is the role of the warrior, which is a period of life all men go through between boyhood and when they finally become elders. A Masai warrior is responsible for protecting the herds of cattle, as well as the villages themselves.

The centre of all Maasai culture is cattle. Wealth is measured in cows, and the majority of Maasai diet is made from what they can get from their cows. They eat the meat, drink the milk, and on occasion will also drink the blood collected from the live cows. Their entire way of life revolves around the care of their herds. These people are nomadic and travel over large parts of territory in order to find fresh pasture and water for their cows.

In fact, they believe that their god specifically created cattle for the use of the Maasai. This belief led to widespread theft of cattle from other tribes and ranchers, as they reclaimed what they figured was already theirs. This is rarely an issue in modern-day Maasai culture.

The land held by the Maasai people today has been reduced by the Kenyan government to create some of the world-famous wildlife parks, like the Masai Mara game preserve. Their lifestyle as nomads requires huge tracts of land, mainly to herd their cattle. Loss of land has forced some Maasai to change how they live. The stretch of land between Kenya and Tanzania is known as the Serengeti plains, and make up most of the Maasai territory. The region is mostly dry grasslands, and is particularly known for the wildebeest migration that takes place through here every year.

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