The Masai people of Tanzania

The Masai people of Tanzania
The Masai people dominate parts of Kenya and Tanzania. They speak Maa languages closely related to the Samburu and Camus languages, half of the Masai I people live in Kenya. The Masai have very distinctive culture and can easily be recognized by their way of dressing.
The Masai people of Tanzania
The Masai people of Tanzania are located in the northern part of the country, they are semi nomadic pastoralists belonging to Nilotic group. They are believed to have migrated from Mike valley of Ethiopia and south Sudan around 1600 AD.
The Masai are fierce warriors feared by the neighbouring tribes in the past. They believed that Laibon Mbatiani their respected leader was a direct descendant of the mythical OlMasinta founder of the tribe.
The economy of the Masai mainly depends on their livestock. They also depend on their cattle for milk, blood and meat. Cow dung is also used by Masai people for smearing their house walls and floor.
The Masai people believe that all cattle belongs to them and another person owning cows must have stolen from them.
The Masai people have managed to maintain their traditional lifestyles in spite of modernization. Unfortunately the Masai can’t graze their cattle in large territories anymore due to encroachment of their territories.
In the past Masai men used to kill lions in order to show strength and acquire a woman. Young boys would go and build brand new villages and stay there along as a sign of entering into manhood but all this practices have stopped.
The Masai remove one of their bottom teeth during their teenage years, the Masai also do circumcision for both boys and girls, the old women circumcise girls who can cry while the old men circumcise young boys who re not supposed to cry.
The Masai are very famous across Kenya and Tanzania because they have settled close to the wildlife national parks and grazed their cattle in these lands for many decades. The Masai are unfortunately being forcefully evicted from their ancestral lands and have been evicted in the past too. Over 70,000 Masai people live around Serengeti national park and Ngorongoro conservation areas in Tanzania but are most likely to loose their land.
The area known as Loliondo and Ngorongoro where the Masai people live in is said to be over populated by the government of Tanzania and that it might be a threat to the ecosystem. There are plans by the government to change Ngorongoro conservation area to a national reserve.
The Masai people have co existed with wildlife hence their the Masai pastoralism has been proved to be compatible with Wildlife and environmental conservation. 70% of tourists to Tanzania visit Ngorongoro with the other 30% distributed to other national parks. Besides that, the Ngorongoro conservation area contributes to 52% of Tanzania’s tourism.
Ngorongoro conservation area also has the highest wildlife density in the world and this means that the government’s narrative that the Masai people are a threat to the ecosystem is absolutely a lie. The government thinks the Masai will disrupt the activities they want to undertake in those areas for their own benefits.
The Tanzanian government withdrew funds allocated to the Masai people like health and even threatened to demolish schools of Masai people. The Tanzanian people think that the Masai people are primitive and their ancestral land belongs elsewhere. Over 349 Masai homesteads have been set a blaze and the call for human rights violations have failed.
Orders were issued by court to halt relocation until a final decision was made but 5 days before just before judgment, the government declared the area as a game controlled area. The court later issued a statement that the decision would be delayed.
31 Masai people have been wounded in the process and Tanzanian police have forcefully used guns and teargas to get people out of their homesteads. 27 Masai people have been charged with murder with several being detained for being illegal immigrants. Over 2000 Masai people have crossed the border to Kenya for security reasons. The Masai have greatly lost their cattle and more being threatened.
The government wants to force the Masai people to civilization and will adapt a culture that is not their own, the Masai people will also loose their rights to spirituality because they will live their mountain of god behind which they believe their god resides in and usually go up to offer sacrifices in times of crisis and jubilation. The Tanzanian government thinks it’s above the law by violation of human rights.
Tourism has also greatly contributed to the Masai people of Tanzania directly. Many Masai people allow tourists to visit their homesteads to learn about their way of live and visitors get to enjoy Masai traditional music and dance. The Masai also sell very beautiful handcrafted jewelry that they sell to tourists.