THE MAASAI VILLAGE TOUR – MAASAI MARA NATIONAL RESERVE
Maasai Village tour: A tour to the Maasai Village tour offers you a memorable encounter with the local Maasai people in their homesteads. The Maasai People are a famous tribe that existed from way back and they reside in the southern part of Kenya and northern Tanzania. Maasai people are a major tribe that dominates the Maasai Mara national reserve and probably the reserve was named after them. They are famous nomadic pastoralists who majorly depend on grazing cattle.
The Maasai people are known for residing in grass thatched houses termed as “Manyatta” which are sort of huts with single entrance and no exit designed out of reeds/ wood, cow dung, mud and grass. These Manyattas are seen scattered in clusters making it a homestead or village which as well called the Bomas of Maasai.
Surprisingly these Bomas of Maasai have no tapped water or even electricity, yet all these are present inside Maasai Mara National reserve and the surrounding developed parts of Narok district where both the Masai Village and the Maasai Mara national reserve are situated. This implies that the Maasai people are stilling living a poor and primitive lifestyle to date but visiting them puts a smile on their faces.
This Maasai village tour while on your safari to Maasai Mara national reserve will enable you to spend some time like a full hour in this Maasai Village interacting with the locals while learning more about their unique cultural practices as they demonstrate more about their life style, standards of living, and take part in some of the cultural practices like milking, making ghee and many more.
The Maasai people reside in the boundaries of Maasai Mara national reserve thus sparing a few hours of your mara safari to visit these locals is such a breath taking excursion. You may choose to visit this Maasai Village early in the morning before the game drive or in the evening.
The cost of Maasai village tour is about 50 USD per person and while on your visit, you may choose to buy some souvenirs and crafts from these locals as a way of supporting and appreciating their hustle and trust me, they will be overwhelmed and live to remember you for your support. Their items surprising are cheap as compared to when buying similar items in the market out there thus buying from ground will be the best option for you in case you wish to buy anything.
While on your visit to this Maasai Village, you will be able to meet with the Maasai Moran who are known as the Maasai warriors that have passed through the right procedure to obtain this name. You can actually take part in the jumping to determine whether you can jump more than the Maasai Moran.
More about the Maasai People;
The Maasai people remain the dominant and most famously known tribe in East Africa with other famous tribes being the Ik people of Kabong district in Kidepo valley national park Uganda and the Batwa of Bwindi national park and Mgahinga gorilla national park. Back to the Maasai people, they are famous pastoralists in both south Kenya and North Tanzania.
The Maasai people speak “Maa” language which links them to another tribe in Kenya known as Kalenjin. The Maasai People have district cultural practices where they most use rely on cattle products including milk and blood for food, Cow dung during construction, hides and skins as beddings and many more. They once believed that all cattle in the world belonged to them and would go an extra mile to fight their neighbors in order to grab all the cattle though it is now a rare case due to sensitization. Maasai People believe that their god “Engai and Engai na Nyokie” is manifested in 2 different ways in different colors where by dark blue and black colors refers to god of Good luck, prosperity, and brings grass. This god is seen in rain and thunder. On the other hand, Red color is used to demonstrate the god of disaster or irritation, famine and is manifested in form of lightning during the dry season.
The Maasai people especially women prefer wearing ornaments to beautify their bodies. They as well pierce and as well stretch the earlobes, you will be able to meet with these men and women with stretched ear robes on your Maasai village tour.
The Maasai village tour
Maasai People prefer shaving off their hair. This is done by both men and women especially during the festivals like marriage, circumcision and any other tradition that is termed as a new beginning. The only people that are allowed to retain their hair are the Maasai worriers.
The Maasai People are known for not using musical instruments while singing and dancing. However, the beads they wear make some sound as the Maasai Jump making it a fascinating experience to watch while on your Maasai village tour.
Conclusion,
Why not add on a village tour to spend some time with the Maasai people during your next Kenya safari to Maasai Mara National reserve.
