Maasai Mara's people and culture
Glimpse Into Traditional Maasai Life in the Mara
A visit to a Maasai village is almost inevitable when travelling to the Maasai Mara. The Maasai (or Masai) are mostly known for the colourful garments and jewellery they wear, their warriors and high jumps, which continue to fascinate tourists.
The Maasai is one of the 43 tribes that make up Kenya’s population, but it can also be found in Tanzania. In fact, the Maasai people know no borders and they can travel freely between the two countries. Many of the Maasai are still semi-nomadic, so they don’t have permanent settlements and move wherever the pastures are better for their cattle where they live in small villages made up of 20-30 mud huts.
While most of their lives haven’t been impacted much by modern civilization, they have adapted to the constant influx of tourists to their native lands and have opened up their villages to tours and visitors.
Bits of Maasai Culture
The Maasai culture is quite peculiar as we learnt during our visit.
- Women do all the hard work, while men only attend to the animals
- Men are allowed to marry as many wives as they like (or can afford); women can have only one husband
- Men have to pay 10 cows dowry for each wife to her family
- Wives shall come from a different village and move to the husband’s village after the wedding
- They used to be carnivore with a diet based on a milk and blood mixture and grilled meat
- Recently they introduced vegetables in their diets but they do not cultivate any
They usually live in the village less than a year because the termites eat the wood structure. Once the huts start degrading, they move the village a little and burn down the abandoned huts to prevent the house spirits to be freed.