More on the Maasai Tribes

First up I have finally posted some photos of our trip so far, you can view them on the following link:

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=60248&l=f8823&id=548657385

I also mentioned Nicks blog last time, here is the link:

http://journals.worldnomads.com/nick_earl

Last blog I wrote about what we did in the crater highlands, but I also wanted to write a bit about the Maasai culture we witnessed on our trek.

The Maasai are a very proud tribe and probably the most well known of the African tribes, but they are actually only one of about 130 tribes in Tanzania alone, all with varying traditions and beliefs. Some still live in their traditional ways but lots have lost them after Europeans, Arabs and missionaries settled in their country and asserted their influences. Tanzania gained independence in the early 60's and the first President was very successful at uniting the nation by banning tribal leaders and introducing Kiswahili as the official language. It is the reason why Tanzania is such a stable country when so many others have problems with tribalism....mixing politics with tribal loyalties it not so good for democracy. Tanzanians see themselves as Tanzanian first.
Just for interest sake, at independence, the word Tanzania comes from:

tan from Tanganyika, the name given when the Germans settled there
za from Zanzibar
nia from the Swahili word for hope

Walking through the villages was like taking a step back in time, the Maasai still live as they have for centuries. All we could see was a sea of red, purple and blue blankets with white beaded headpieces, neck pieces, anklets and bracelets, they wear sandals made from old car tyres and live in simple wooden huts. There were donkey's, cattle and goats everywhere, being herded by small children mostly. I would love to have gotten my camera out to take some pics, but they tend to ask for money and we didn't have a lot of cash on us at the time (due to African ATM limits and no credit card facilities).

We wondered through Engeruka (a Maasai village) with Mr Laiser, a Maasai man who is studying English in Arusha to be a guide. He aspires to learn 10 languages! He showed us a sacred site where the Maasai in his village slaughter their cattle for eating and prepare bush medicine. We got to meet many of the Maasai leaders in the village as they made their way to the village for market day, they walk for miles to meet there! You can tell a Maasai leader by the number of sticks he carry's. Typically, a leader will have a spear and 2 sticks....just in case they need to protect themselves from other tribes of course, or the odd lion. We saw numerous Maasai women doing their daily chores. The women and children do all the work in Maasai culture! The men do bugger all! They must have gotten the idea from the lions. We saw a young girl who was about 13 years, at a guess, Mr Laiser told us that she was about the right age to be married and often to men about 40 years old. Just like the Zulu culture the men marry numerous wives....sometimes up to 30 or so. Some men have so many children that they don't know all of their names. The young girl we saw was likely to have been circumcised a few years ago, this is still practiced by the Maasai despite a lot of pressure from the Tanzanian government and WHO to stop these practices. One of the most telling moments while chatting to Mr Laiser was when he asked me how many cows I had, I replied that I had none, then in shock he asked me how many cows my parents had, I replied that they had none and that only a handful of people in Australia had some....I think he felt very sorry for me, which was refreshing as most Africans treat you like you're a cash machine with a never ending supply of money.
It was an interesting experience, I have found it interesting that of the tribes we have seen that still live in their traditional ways, the Zulu and the Maasai, both have many similarities. Both allow men to marry numerous wives, the women do most of the work, they both live in similar set ups with the huts, the men still practice their warrior ways, but don't actually need to use those skills in the modern world, interesting.