Maasai Loliondo Life Lion Deal

Places like Loliondo on the eastern edge of the Serengeti National Park are visited by so few tourists that it makes visiting the Maasai a much more informative and real experience than many other more visited areas of northern Tanzania. In some areas of Tanzania, particularly along the main roads, the tourist trade has understandably become such a major source of revenue that it's hard to see where tourist driven theatre stops and reality starts.

In these places, though you see some colourful displays, it's less easy to get a sense of the reality of daily life as a Maasai and you totally miss the most fascinating thing which is seeing how the Maasai operate in the context of their (often incredibly harsh) environment. In Loliondo by contrast you will likely be guided at least in part by Maasai who have grown up in the area. You can wander about the area, much as you might wander through, say a village in France, and absorb the culture- ask questions and be prepared to answer as many.

The Maasai are pastoralists, whose lifestyle is virtually as it would have been 100 yrs ago, with a few exceptions (bicycles are a notable example of this). They are natural conservationists and they don't hunt for food, which is why their areas are to this day some of the best game areas in the world.

The only animal the Maasai hunt regularly is lion and it is generally only stock raiding animals that are targeted. When done in the traditional way (on foot with spears) this is a good example of how the ceremony which runs through Maasai life is born of a stark necessity - if lion are eating your cattle (for which simplistically read bank account) then you need to do something about it; if as a warrior you need to be able to deal with problems of this nature then killing a lion as a part of your entry into manhood is a pragmatic way to make sure that your male population are up to the task.

In places like Loliondo where real Maasai life takes place, you may well get the chance to have a look round some one's house, which we highly recommend as you'd be hard pushed to find a greater contrast to 21st century western lifestyle. When you look at the materials they use and imagine those huts in heavy rain, you can see why most sensible Maasai will opt for corrugated iron roofs given the chance. Not so aesthetically pleasing, but a very great deal more practical.

Photography is a tricky one. Essentially the deal is that they inherently don't (or didn't) like it. It was said that they believed a camera took their soul away, but that may well have been true of a time when my great aunt would have believed the same thing. In our experience the most sensible thing to do is ask (through your guide) and respect people's privacy - be aware of how people are reacting and if they're uncomfortable stop. For some far more in-depth information on the Maasai and a Maasai perspective have a look at www.maasai-infoline.org

print page email page

Quick Navigation
Safari Parks: Safari Camps:

Knowledge
Culture:
History:
Natural History:
Travel Info:


The Maasai home > knowledge > culture > the maasai	+44(0)1747 898104 about us contact us