The Maasai believe that Ngai (God) entrusted all the world’s cattle to them for safe-keeping when the earth and sky split at the beginning of time, and this is how they justify raiding cattle from other tribes.

The Maasai, an ethnic group of semi-nomadic people who inhabit in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, drink cow blood on special occasions – circumcision of a child, the birth of a baby and on the occasion of a girl’s marriage. It also is given to drunken elders to alleviate intoxication and hangover.

Cattle are the traditional partners of the Maasai people of East Africa. One of the most vibrant indigenous societies on the continent, the pastoralist Maasai built an economy and way of life deeply intertwined with their cattle herds in the Great Rift Valley of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania.

They are the single most important aspect of their lives. The Maasai men take great pride in herding as their cows are their most prized possessions. Because the Maasai are spread across such vast expanses of land, they have the opportunity to meet fellow tribespeople from far away.

The surprising results of the field study show that the Maasai are in a good health status in spite of a limited diet. Blood tests showed that there is a high content of healthy omega-3 fatty acids in their erythrocyte membranes, the cell walls of the red blood cells, even though these acids are not ingested.

Maasai girls who do enroll in primary school attend public day schools which are free. But all students in Kenya are required to wear uniforms, and many families cannot afford even the uniform needed for their child to go to school.

According to the tribe’s own oral history, the Maasai originated north of Lake Turkana (north-west Kenya) in the lower Nile Valley. They began migrating south in the 15th century and arrived in the long trunk of land stretching across central Tanzania and Northern Kenya during the 17th and 18 century.

They are considered one of the tallest people in the world with average height of 6 ft 3 inches according to some reports. Traditionally, the Maasai diet consisted of raw meat, raw milk, and raw blood from cattle.

They love singing and dancing: If you have a chance to visit some of Kenya’s major restaurants and game reserves including the Nairobi National Park and many other tourist destinations away from the city, you will most probably meet some Maasai men and women singing and dancing as they usher you in.

Climate change is extending years of dry seasons in East Africa, and long droughts are threatening the tribe with extinction. (“Maasai Culture,” n.d.) Due to extended dry seasons and droughts, their crops and resources are dying, leaving them with no food or source of water to live on.

The Maasai They move their herds from one place to another, so that the grass has a chance to grow again; traditionally, this is made possible by a communal land tenure system in which everyone in an area shares access to water and pasture.

Traditionally, the Maasai do not have money. Instead, their economy has been based on cattle. They have used them in place of money. Cattle have been bartered for many kinds of things.

“Nearly 80 per cent of the Maasai population in Kenya and Tanzania are living below the poverty line,” the website explains. “Yet their distinctive and iconic cultural brand and intellectual property concepts have been used commercially around the globe.”

Many Maasai children start their primary and secondary school education late because schools are so far away from their communities. The national education statistics shows that a limited number of Maasai children have completed secondary school, while even fewer of them have had a chance to attend college.

Most Maasai wear the color red because it symbolizes their culture and they believe it scares wild animals away. Also, most of the men wear a shuka. The women wear clothes that are most beauty colorful and decorated with beads. The women also wear capes.

Swahili

In school, Maasai children learn English and Swahili, but their native language, Maa, is spoken at home. Young boys are responsible for tending livestock as part of their daily chores. Since cattle are so important to the Maasai people, this job is highly honored.