Kenya: Masai Mara National Reserve

Our guide had asked us the day before whether we wanted to visit a Masai village. We’d said yes. The day had run away from us a little, so it was getting towards late afternoon, and I thought we’d missed the chance to visit the Masai Village. But no. We pulled in around 5 pm and they were still taking visitors. We were introduced to our guide, a young Masai man, who explained a bit about what we were going to see and took our money – which apparently funds the local Masai school. Ready to go, a group of Masai ladies gathered and started to sing and dance to welcome us. The escorted us through the entrance of their compound, which was circular and surrounded by a wooden fence. Inside were a dozen or so mud and wood houses arranged in a circle against the fence. A group of tired and hungry children were playing in the centre of the compound. We were joined by a family of four, Germans I think; two teenagers and their parents. We were ushered to the middle of the compound, where the ladies performed another dance. The father of the other visitors went and stood among the Masai ladies, which we thought was a bit rude. After the dance finished the ladies paraded past us giving us a high-five, which is apparently good luck. Next the Masai men gave a dance – which I believe is to attract the women. The dance involves a lot of jumping in the air, which reminded me a bit of when I danced to Punk music. When the dancing was done, we were given a demonstration of lighting a fire with sticks and a spear blade.

From the centre of the compound, we were taken to one of the small mud houses. Inside this one family unit live. The Masai are a polygamous culture. So, when a man marries his wife builds a family home, with other women from the family, when she, her husband and children live. If the man takes another wife, she does the same, with a separate house. We were taken inside the tiny house – it was dark and small. There was a main room, with a fire where the cooking is done. There is a lot of meat in the Masai diet. The Masai used to be nomadic, but today they live in settlements and raise livestock, cows and goats. They do eats vegetables and legumes, but they get these through trade or buying. They told us they don’t grow crops because of the potential conflict with local wildlife and the agreement they have with the government to use National Park lands to feed their animals. Besides the main, there is a guest room, a small space where the children sleep and a room for mum and dad. Interestingly, the parent’s room has a separate door to the outside world – presumably so the man can sneak off to see his other families.

It was quite a relief to escape the tight, dark confines of the house. Outside we were greeted by some very young children, who Karen engaged in conversation with. One was a young boy whose face was covered in sores. There are so many flies around from the cattle … I can only imagine the unhygienic conditions these people endure.

After a short time with children, we were escorted out of the compound to an area which had been set up with small stands selling arts that the locals had created. We explained we had no space for souvenirs and made our way back to Raphe.