Cow works

I have been living amongst the Masai for quite some time now but it never fails to put a smile on my face when we get a new addition to our cattle herd.

The warriors are experts at predicting when a cow is about to give birth. So often, they keep heavily pregnant ones from going out with the herd, in order to keep watch over them and extract the calf when it arrives.

My brother-in-law untying his cow after a successful birth.

Zebu cattle give birth every 15 - 18 months and carry their unborn calves for 9 months like humans. They are fertile from about three years old and are named as soon as they have given birth the first time.

Unlike bulls, cows are not commonly sold, but are kept in the family's herd till they grow old.

When wanting to milk a cow, Masai women call them by their name and they obediently trot over to be milked. A lot of them are quite docile and can be touched and stroked, others however do not like direct contact with humans.

In the video below, you can see one of our cows bringing her calf into the world with help from the warriors.

A life away from home

While my sister was here, we decided to spend some time on Zanzibar together.
The five days we spent there, made me fall in love with the island all over again.

Travelling with someone who is new to Tanzania and sees her beauty with wondrous eyes, reminded me why I came to love it here.

Traditional dhow in the evening light.

We went to Kendwa, in the north of the island. Crystal white sand on a long broad stretch of beach and clear turquoise waters in which swimming is possible even at low tide, make this my favourite place on Zanzibar.

You cannot walk there without being addressed by people trying to sell you things.
Many of them are Zanzibaris but there are also a lot of Masai.

A warrior talking to tourists on Kendwa beach

They come to coastal regions in the hope to find work to help keep up with an increasing demand for materialistic things by their families.

These days the Masai do not cloth themselves in sheep skins but buy expensive clothes made in Asia. They do not use twines, roots and seeds anymore to create jewellery, but buy plastic beads made in China to make necklaces, bracelets and anklets.

An increasing population size has lead to higher cattle numbers and overgrazing.
Cows do not produce enough milk anymore to make the yoghurt the Masai used to live off in past times.

A warrior keeping watch over a hotel beach front.

For this reason Masai have started either planting farms of corn or buying it which is both costly. They have become many, and the land is no longer enough for them to live off exclusively.

They usually find employment as security for hotels and often have shops selling Masai crafts too.

It is a stunning sight - Zanzibar's white sands and turquoise waters glistening in the African sun - and a warrior in full dress, wearing Ildeka, which only they are allowed to wear; long cotton strings braided into the top hair, falling in braids down to their lower backs.

A warrior posing for me on the beach.

I loved Africa even before I had met any of them but for me now they represent everything I have come to love about this continent.

Their even featured faces with almond eyes and bright white teeth is matched in beauty only by their kind souls.

Working hard for water

My sister is here for a visit and today we went to look at our communal waterhole.

A warrior standing on the watering trough to keep the cattle in order

The warriors are busy organising their cattle to drink from the water trough and the women are washing and loading their donkeys with water to take back home for cooking, drinking and washing.

Our cattles' turn to drink 

Donkeys here are very valuable work animals and therefore very well looked     after. My husband always says they are the Masai's equivalent of cars. 

Donkeys waiting patiently to be loaded 

They are used for carrying water and corn or supplies to take to far away camps when moving the cattle.

Women fetching water

They can easily carry 80 litres of water in one trip, often they carry more.

Recently, donkey numbers have been declining due to Swahili people stealing and slaughtering them for their coats.

The plight of modernity

The Masai used to be nomadic but in recent times they have had to adapt their way of life to ever more difficult conditions.

This is due to dwindling pasture lands and encroaching human settlements and farmland.

These days, the Masai try to teach themselves land management in order to preserve grassland for the dry season.

They also move the cattle if need be, making camp for months at a time wherever the rains have come early.

We move our cows once or twice a year. This has become difficult though as there has been a rise in conflict between Masai and the neighbouring tribe, the Wasingua.

More than once, on moving our herd into the nearby Kilindi district, we have been fined by local village chairmen for no reason.

Herding the cows in the hills in the dry season

Last year, while camping out with the cows in the Kilindi district, our boys and young warriors were beaten and our cattle taken by unknown Swahili men. The cows were held ransom for two days and only due to police pressure and the involvement of the heads of both Kiteto and Kilindi district, were they released without being harmed.

This incident was completely unprovoked.

We see evidence on a daily basis of an ever rising human population causing problems and tension. The Masai will find it increasingly hard to find sufficient pastures for their cattle and they are increasingly exposed to the bad will of their neighbours.

I believe it is essential now to teach the Masai about land management, family planning and to advice them of their rights so as to prevent them being taken advantage of.

For an example of how they are treated to date in our neighbouring Loliondo, please read this article.

Rights abuses and evictions of Masai people in Tanzania