The Maasai
This honorable tribe should be spelled Maasai (not Masai), which means people who speak maa.
The British immigrants spelled it incorrectly, and it is still in use today: masai. Maasai people have always been unique.
They were visually distinguished by their vivid crimson robes. With their spear in hand, they face any threat with bravery and composure.
These courageous tribesmen were highly respected by the armed British troops that drove the Maasai from their territories in the early 20th century.
Until recently, a Maasai child could only become a warrior by using his spear to kill a lion on his own.
MWCT mainly assists the Maasai that reside on the Kuku Group Ranch.
Situated between Tsavo and Amboseli National Parks, at the foot of Hemingway’s “Green Hills of Africa,” the 375,000 acres that make up the Kuku Group Ranch are home to over 17,000 people and serve as a significant migration corridor.
The most recognizable animals of East Africa can be found here, including lions, elephants, leopards, zebras, and giraffes.
The area is rich in resources, not just for the Kuku people but also for the more than 7 million people who live in and around Mombasa, Kenya’s second-largest port city, and its surrounding woods, rivers, and springs, which act as carbon sinks and habitat reserves.
The multinational team of professionals at MWCT collaborates with the Maasai community to develop and carry out all-encompassing initiatives in health, education, and conservation that benefit the community, the wilderness, and the wildlife that is so essential to all of us.
History
Kenya acknowledges more than fifty indigenous groups. At the start of the 20th century, the Maasai tribe held a dominant position.
They are among the select few tribes that still practice the majority of their customs, way of life, and folklore.
As a pastoral people who herd goats and cattle for a living, the Maasai are semi-nomadic in contrast to many other tribes in Kenya.
In contemporary Africa, the Maasai have not fared well. The most productive areas were inhabited by ferocious Maasai tribes before the arrival of European immigrants.
The Maasai people battled to protect their land, but their spears could not defeat armed British soldiers, and their attorneys were never given equal treatment in British courts.
The Maasai lost the majority of their territory to European immigrants when they signed the first agreement in 1904.
A small number of Maasai people signed a contentious agreement in 1911, seven years later, ceding their best Northern land, Laikipia, to European immigrants.
The signatories did not represent the entire tribe, thus it’s likely that they were unaware of the full ramifications of such a pact.
The Maasai were forced to shift to less productive areas of Kenya and Tanzania after losing around two-thirds of their land as a result of these two treaties.
Some Kenyan tribes have adapted to modernity’s “progress” more easily than others.
The Maasai, on the other hand, suffer when Kenya takes more land for expanding tribes and agriculture because they have continued to live according to their traditional traditions.
Future
The Maasai, their cattle, and the wildlife in Kenya will have less land due to the country’s constantly expanding population. A lion will increasingly steal a cow or some goats before being killed in reprisal.
The number of lions has decreased from 100,000 ten years ago to approximately 14,000 today, making them a vanishing species.
The Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust is the pioneer of a program that pays for livestock that has been slaughtered by lions and other predators.
The program recruits warriors as lion scouts and is funded by Campi Ya Kanzi visitor conservation fees.
The Maasai and the wildlife used to coexist peacefully in harmony.
The future of the land, the wildlife, and the Maasai people will all be secured if this can be restored and the Maasai people are shown the economic benefits of having wildlife on their property.
The Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust carries out precisely this. We are overjoyed that UNEP has named our Chairman, Samson Parashina, Champion of the Earth, and that we have been given the UNDP Equator Prize.
These esteemed UN Awards have never before been presented to the same organization.
Just a few thousand Maasai are living on the 400 square miles Kuku Group Ranch, where the camp is situated.
The fauna on the land is abundant. It is a crucial corridor and dispersal region for Tsavo West National Park, Chyulu National Park, and Amboseli National Park, which it borders.
A doctor and nurses work at the dispensaries, rangers, and game scouts preserve wildlife, and 300 members of the Trust staff the schools.
Therefore, the Maasai of Kuku Group Ranch gain by sharing their expansive lands with up to 16 guests from Campi ya Kanzi in several ways: They keep their territories in their original state.
Together, they produce revenue that enhances both their quality of life and their kids’ educational opportunities. They maintain their dignity and customs of living.
Being able to provide “conservation dividends” to each member of the Group Ranch is what Campi ya Kanzi and MWCT are working together to accomplish.
This will allow the property to remain one unit, owned by a single title deed, and unbroken.
This will ensure that there will be a place for Maasai people who are willing to continue living according to their way of life.
As a result of your visit, the Maasai can preserve their culture.
Instead of leaving Campi ya Kanzi with something taken from you, you will have gained human experience that will, ideally, stay with you for years to come.
The Maasai
