Maasai Manyatta

Today we had the opportunity to visit a Maasai cultural center in Maasai Manyatta, a region many Maasai of the area call home.  This cultural center consists of several permanent bomas (houses) that provides the background to a tourist site.  A family of 85 people runs the site, however only 40 people were there today as 45 others were out tending to the livestock.  The Maasai practice polygamy so the patriarch, or chief of this particular family has 15 wives.  The site is home to all 15 of these wives and their children. 

Of course, this wouldn’t be a SFS field trip without an assignment.  Our assignment was to observe the activities happening at the site than to analyze through means of questions and further research if this Maasai tourist site is benefitting the people economically, ecologically, and socially.  Our professors specifically didn’t tell the Maasai running the site that we are students so they would treat us as tourists and so we could work on our investigative skills.  Of course, thirty “wazungus” toting clipboards and notebooks and writing down notes doesn’t really help the tourist disguise. 

We were greeted by Baracka (I’m not sure how to spell his name) who speaks English very well; he told us we would first be treated to a welcome dance, then go inside and be treated to a ceremonial dance, able to tour the bomas, watch how the Maasai make fire, and ask questions. 

One has to take the touristy displays with a grain of salt, Maasai people obviously don’t dance everyday and they probably change things to satisfy tourists, needless to say, I still enjoyed the dances.  The men and women are separate during dances with men doing this hop-skip move in unison while moving into different formations while the women do this dance where they move their shoulders and hips, which looked easy enough but when I tried it was quite difficult.  I loved the song during the welcome dance.  The song was like a call and response between the men and women; the men would start with guttural chants then the women would respond singing. 

After the welcome dance, we moved into the boma (boma can also refer to the collective houses and enclosures that the cattle stay in at night) and they performed a ceremonial dance.  This is definitely the tourist favorite.  During this dance, the men jump super high.  I am sure most people know what I’m talking about or have an image of this scene in their minds.   It was actually pretty neat to watch.  I definitely don’t have that talent.  My brother and I were having a jumping contest in our basement before I left for Africa, trying to reach the ceiling and I was so bad at jumping that my mom was embarrassed.  They invited the boys to join the jumping and dancing and invited the girls to go over with the women, who placed necklaces around our necks and tried to teach us how to dance.  It was a big party. 

After the dancing and watching how the Maasai use things from their environment to make fire, they made a big point to tell us they don’t use matchboxes; we had a question session.  Here was where the morning got uncomfortable.  Mind you, we had an assignment and therefore probably didn’t ask the normal touristy questions.  No, our questions were “How are viewed by other Maasai for running a tourist operation?”, “What are the ecological benefits or drawbacks to running this operation?”, “How has this affected your culture?”, “Where are most of the tourists that visit your boma from?” and so on.  In the beginning, the two men fielding our questions were giving fairly standard answers like “Everything is great”, but I think they realized that we wanted a deeper answer.  We began getting more out of the men and found out that some Maasai treat them with contempt because they have essentially forsaken the nomadic Maasai ways by having a permanent tourist site.  Also, many of the people in this family have attended school, hence their English, which can also be frowned upon in greater Maasai culture. 

The uncomfortable part was when our academic director, Kissui, who is a renowned lion researcher (and also got his PhD from the U of Minnesota and therefore he and I have a connection because we both study/studied in the Twin Cities), started asking the men why Maasai kill lions.  They were definitely not expecting this question.  They said they didn’t kill lions but Kissui wouldn’t back down and told them he had pictures and data from Lake Manyara NP, Tarangire NP, and Ngorongoro CA that Maasai had killed lions.  To this they responded they would attack lions only if it attacked their people or cattle.  Kissui asked them if it was true that if a Maasai man kills a lion, that he becomes a hero, they replied that yes that was true, but that the government says to not kill lions so they don’t kill lions.  After several minutes of intense questioning and uncomfortable silence from the rest of our group, Kissui stopped asking questions much to the men’s visible relief. 

At dinner tonight, Kissui led a group reflection.  After hearing our reactions, he talked about why he wanted to talk to the men about lions.  He knows it’s a problem and feels there is a disconnect between wildlife and the Maasai per say.  They depend on the environment and in turn the wildlife for not only their lifestyle but also as a continual source of tourists.  Kissui wanted to show them the connection between wildlife and their livelihood.  While he was talking to them this morning, he also asked if they would tell other Maasai clans not to kill lions to which they seemed slightly confused.  At dinner, Kissui explained he wanted to recruit them to be ambassadors for the wildlife and have them show their own people why lions, among other animals, are important to the entire system.  Hearing Kissui’s thoughts and reasoning made me understand his questions more. 

We were then broken into groups and assigned a guide who showed us around the boma then brought us into a house.  I definitely made another Maasai friend! I think I charmed him over by using the only word I know in the Maasai language, cow (I have no idea how to spell it so I wont even try to write the word).  He was telling two other girls from my group and I how they make the houses with mud and dung and I asked if it was cow dung (using the Maasai word for cow) and he started beaming and didn’t leave my side the rest of the time at the boma.  I’m so impressed at the resourcefulness of the Maasai people.  Making a house out of mud and dung is a great way not to use the few trees, so smart. 

I was talking to our guide after the short tour and he told me he wanted to write his name down on my paper, so unlike my Maasai friends from the dung day, I actually know this Maasai friend’s name!  His name is Lemomo Arpakwa and he is from the Esilalei Village.  He told me to write my name and village down on the same paper so I did.  Pronouncing my name proved to be kind of a challenge, it doesn’t help I have a random “j” in my name which threw him off.  I wrote that I come from South Dakota and live in Sioux Falls village.  He told me that those were funny words.  I tried to explain to him that where I come from, we have a tribe and the tribe named the village and place.  I told him about the waterfalls in Sioux Falls and he was pretty interested.  He was great.

No offense to the Iraqw tribe, my experience with them have been great as well, after all I got to wear a wedding skirt; however I am more partial to the Maasai.  It’s all started with the dung day, those Maasai were so helpful, friendly, and fun to get to know, even if it was limited and now my friend, Lemomo, was also very friendly and we were able to share both of our cultures with each other.  I bought a coiled metal bracelet from Lemomo and have no idea how I will ever get it off my wrist, so I guess you could say I’m attached to the Maasai.  I also bought a shuka (blanket/shawl) a while ago when we were in town and have tried wearing it around my body like the Maasai.  If I wasn’t American, I might want to be Maasai. 

This brings me to my thoughts on today.  After lunch, I did some required readings about how so many tribes have been exploited for the sake of tourism and I just got sick to my stomach.  Tourists, like myself, come to different countries and want to see a dressed up version of these “primitive” people and customs.  For instance, there are very few hunter-gatherer tribes left and one of them is the Sam in Botswana; one of the articles I read was all about how tourists have come to see and essentially gawk a their way of life.  Not that I can exclude myself from the tourist category, if I had a chance to see the Sam, or any other tribe, I would love to take that opportunity.  However, it’s so easy to take advantage or the customs or exploit the people.  Tourism brings in a lot of money and more and more tribes have begun to cater specifically to tourists.  When they do this, they definitely get a benefit from the increased income, but is the risk of losing elements of their culture worth it?

 As we were at the boma, it was very enjoyable, but it had an element of imitation.  As we were leaving, another group of white tourists were just arriving and the Maasai were lining up to do their welcome dance all over again.  I thought how strange that would be, to do this dance several times a day, every day.   I wanted to talk to the people more and find out if they really enjoyed this or if it was a necessary evil so they could have a little more income.  Though I completely enjoyed the experience, there was a part of me as we left that cringed at the thought of these people displaying the same parts of their culture to tourists daily.  I thought it was a shame that we as tourists only saw a few parts of their culture and would take these few pieces back to America and that would structure our entire view of the Maasai people.  I wish I could see their culture from an insiders view, from how it really works, not as a tourist or even a student.  Alas, I will never be Maasai or probably even accepted enough to be given that look.  Maybe its for the best though?

I hate to hear about cultures such as the Maasai being changed or forgotten for the sake of the tourist industry.  Today, it is so hard for people like the Maasai to live the nomadic, pastoralist way they always have.  Industry is booming and land is becoming more scarce and a lot of the times, the traditional culture and living just isn’t able to support the people.  I’m unsure of all of this, I think people such as Maasai, Iraqw, Sam and anybody else should have the opportunity to get educated or get jobs wherever they wish; but there is something so disheartening about the idea that these rich, long-lasting cultures are being lost.  I hate it.  I want all of these tribes to continue for their own sake.  I don’t want these cultures to be simmered down into a few dances and handcrafts, they deserve to last into these modern times.   Part of me thinks that the way the Sam or Hadzabe here in Tanzania live, the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, is how God originally intended us to live.  That lifestyle is incredibly difficult and maybe I’m being overly idealistic, but there is something about the intense connection between man and the environment that just seems pure.  Obviously we can’t revert back to hunter-gatherer lifestyles, but I want our modern world to allow the people who live like that continue to do so if they desire. 

Those are my scattered thoughts, they may be wrong or oversimplified or over idealistic.  I love cultures, I always have been fascinated with other cultures so I am grateful for the opportunity to engage with so many different cultures here in Africa.  Once again, I’m blessed.