Maasai Village

Saturday morning around 10:30, we took a tour of a Maasai village. The Maasai are traditional nomadic herdsman and they make up about 2 % of Kenyan people. On our drive to the mara, we saw many maasai people herding their cattle, sheep, and/or goats. This particular village welcomes tourists and their dollars.

The chief's son, MaiTan, was our guide. As soon as we entered, he asked for our cameras so that he and another guide could take pictures as we enteracted with the people. There are 150 children living in this village (brought into this world by probably less than 10 fathers). I'm pretty sure MaiTan said something about having 14 wives??? Obviously a very different culture.

After the tour of the village, they took us to their market area where each home has their own stand. It is very overwhelming b/c they are all extremely eager for you to buy something from their "shop". We felt like we needed to visit each one (which was probably a mistake b/c it greatly lengthened our time there & created a mental shut-down for me), but we wanted to be polite. My favorite was the fact that they continually showed us the "calabash" as an item to purchase and proudly told us why it is so practical - b/c it is used to store cow blood for drinking. Apparently no one has broken it to them that these aren't in high demand in the US.

Of course, after looking at each stall, then the kids had to remember where they saw something they wanted to buy (which, for John, was every other stand, but we made him narrow it down to one - he's already made way too many purchases here!) You have to bargain quite a bit b/c they set their prices very high. Interestingly, they all know the word "negotiate".

Despite the mental drain of the last hour plus in the market, we were all glad that we had gone. It was very interesting to see ans something we will certainly remember.

The women singing a welcome song

Maasai warriors performing a traditional dance.
Jumping high (though I'm not sure to which height) proves you are ready for marriage.

Our waiter at the hotel recommended we take a treat to the children.
Fortunately, we had some bags of Jelly Belly Beans (I think from Grandma Sprayberry).

They lined us up with the women to sing a song (& decorate us with their traditional beaded necklaces)

The warriors led us in another traditional song and dance.

Mai Tan proudly showed us their houses, constructed of cow dung. They have over 40 houses in this village.

Inside the house. He showed us the sitting room, the kitchen, the warrior's bed, the other bed which is for the wife and children, the storage room and the kids' favorite - the sleeping room for the baby cows.