Welcome to our website! We are dedicated to making a positive impact in the lives of impoverished communities, with a special focus on the Maasai Mara region in Africa. Our mission is to extend a helping hand to those who need it most, particularly children and women facing challenges in these underserved areas.
In the Maasai Mara, poverty is a harsh reality for many families, limiting access to basic necessities such as food, clean water, education, and healthcare. Through our platform, we aim to raise awareness, mobilize resources, and implement sustainable solutions to address these pressing issues.
By supporting our cause, by buying Maasai items, making tour reservations, donating to watch our Maasai documentary or purchasing our Maasai books you are not only transforming individual lives but also contributing to the development, education and empowerment of entire communities. Together, we can make a difference and create a brighter future for the Maasai generations to come.
Join us in our journey to uplift the Maasai Mara communities and make a meaningful impact. Every contribution, big or small, brings us one step closer to our shared goal of building a more equitable and compassionate world. Thank you for your support.
The Maasai People, probably one of Africa’s most iconic tribes, are easily recognized as their tall figures stride across the savannahs dressed in their bright red robes (shukas) with spears in hand. Famous also for their high jumping dances, they stay steadfastly immersed in their culture and traditions.
A resilient people who were forcibly removed from their ancestral lands in the northwest of Kenya, they’ve managed to keep their semi-nomadic tribal way of life for centuries. Still herding cattle and goats as their main source of livelihood, they continue to live in harmony with nature. As a result, they have remarkable knowledge of the land and its wildlife, are amazing trackers, and often hired as guides for safaris.
The Maasai people live along the Great Rift Valley in Kenya and Tanzania, with the majority of them found on the Maasai Mara National Reserve.
Click on the map to view an interactive one.
Maasai (not Masai) means “people who speak maa.” Maa, an Eastern Nilotic language, is used by the Maasai people most of the time in everyday life in their villages. They often mix this with Swahili, one of Kenya’s two official languages, the other being English, which some Maasai people can speak when you visit them. Occasionally Maasai is seen spelled as Masai for this novel tribe. However, it was the incorrect spelling of the British settlers although it is sometimes still used by people outside of the Maasai communities.
Today the Maasa live in temporary villages in modest homes (enkaji) made of branches, mud, cow dung and water, which are built by the women. A group of homes (emanyatta) are assembled in circular fashion with the centre used as an enclosure for their all-important cattle when they are not outside the village grazing on the grasslands.
Most villages do not have access to electricity. They would benefit from solar panels or other means to generate power. Obtaining water often requires walking long distances to bring it from a local river, unless they are fortunate to have water storage tanks, and a way to transport it there.
Starting fires with flint and wood is a traditional practice, which they proudly demonstrate for visitors. Visitors are then shown the interiors of their homes, where they cook with small wood cooking fires. The homes are small and dark with only a small opening in the wall used as a chimney to allow smoke to escape. The firewood used for cooking is gathered from outside the surrounding village.
Ugali, a cornmeal porridge with fresh milk is a staple the families enjoy in the morning and at other times of the day. Maize, milk, meat, and blood from their livestock. If they are lucky beans, rice and cabbage are also on the menu. Roasted maize or milled flour mixed with water is popular too. When possible, they purchase oil, flour, and sugar as well as fresh produce. They are not able to grow gardens due to the eating habits of the abundant wildlife.
A polygamous society, a man may have as many wives as he wants if he can afford the price of the bride. This might mean offering the bride’s parents a dozen cows and cash or other suitable contributions. A man’s wealth is measured in cattle and children, and each wife and family are housed in their own homes.
Today, if a village is fortunate to have a school funded by a charity nearby, children are now able to gain an education. Any child may go after the age of 6 if the parents or community can afford to pay for the school fees, uniforms, and other necessities for them to attend. Families sometimes cannot send all of their children to school.
Rhythmic harmonies provided by a chorus of vocalists punctuated by the deep sounds of the Greater Kudu horn, mesmerize visitors on their arrival. These traditional welcoming songs (nambas) of the Maasai are part of their many ceremonies, as is the practice of adumu, the high jumping dances. Generally, young Maasai warriors perform these dances, and also enter inter-village competitions for jumping the highest. Girls learn to sing at a young age.
The Maasai people are distinctive for their colourful clothing, often in vibrant reds with black stripes, and sometimes oranges, blues or purples. Red is the most common colour for their robes (shukas). This important colour signifies courage, bravery and strength and is believed to scare off lions at a great distance. Also known as the “African Blanket,” shukas are made from durable, strong thick cloth to help protect the Maasai people from harsh elements on the savannahs. Clothing styles and colours signify age and social position in the Maasai culture.
Boys are well-trained to become warriors (morans) at age fourteen, following a circumcision ceremony (emuratta), a rite of passage into manhood. Until recently they also had to go out on their own to kill a lion, but this is now forbidden by government laws. Their traditional role is protecting the cattle and community. They do this with long spears and, until recently, buffalo skin shields decorated with red, white and black dye. They wear the red shukas as a symbol of power.
While their main sustenance is the result of raising cattle, tourism has become an important source of income. They are proud to let you explore their culture and traditions within their villages, and often display their crafts in a designated area. Fees are charged for these tours and visitors are encouraged to purchase curios to help the individual families in the community who make them.
The fine beadwork craftsmanship of the women is evident in their ceremonial jewellery and other everyday adornments for themselves, their menfolk, and families. There is ritualistic significance in each piece they create from courting and wedding regalia to indicators of prominence in their tribes or special attributes or skills. All kinds of curios are available for tourists to purchase that range from delicate to intricate jewelry for women and men, household goods, along with ornaments, weapons, and wood carvings.
