MAASAI TRIBE

An interesting contrast can be made between the Hadzabe and the Maasai people. While the former are hunter-gatherers who eat almost any wild animals, the latter are nomadic herders who subsist only on their cattles, be it meat, milk or blood. They eat no other wild animal and only kill lions, hyenas and other predators when their cattle herds are threatened. 

The Maasai people have been famed since history as being fierce warriors but (thankfully) we experienced their hospitality rather than their belligerence. The traditional Maasai boma again was worlds apart from our usual HDB flats and we could not imagine their lives as we were crammed in the dimly lit huts. 

We do not pity them but rather it was hard for us to understand their way of life - their daily schedule of taking the cattle herds out to graze every morning, their transactional marriage system equating brides with cattles, their strict class system which dictates their social life. Once again we were humbled by their rugged and fierce spirit which has preserved their way of life for hundreds of years.

The huts of the Maasai tribe, made of mud, straws and wood

Little boy with a stick in his mouth, I could not resist so I gave him a little pinch!

The school of the tribe

There’s a teacher and a black board, teaching the English alphabets

A dung beetle!

Qianwei joining in the tribal dance. As you can see, every maasai man holds a stick. The sticks are used to fight off predators and also as a symbol of status in the tribe. The honorable ones are allowed to carry the black sticks made by ebony wood. They all wear dark coloured robes.

They rear cows, sheeps for food and use donkeys for labour!

All in all, it was really educational!