Day 6 Aldara Gorge/ Maasai Village

There is going to be an emphasis on Sociology/ Archeology/ Paleontology today as our first stop on the northward trek is a Maasai Village. Most of the vast tracts of land that we've been crossing are lands that once belonged to the large tribe of Maasai people. This tribe is the last bastion of purely East African culture, clinging steadfastly to their ancestral beliefs and customs.








For several days we've seen the young "warriors" herding cows, the women hauling water in large clay pots which they carry with tremendous grace on top of their heads, and the children waving to us enthusiastically from the roadside. The Maasai dress in red and blue to distinguish them from other tribes. They are tall, very slender with blue black skin coloring. In my opinion, they are elegant and beautiful!


As we entered the village, we met the only English speaking male in the village who is also the son of the chief. He brought us to a central area where we were given a dance show by the adults in the village. The males danced about virility and strength; the women (sequestered away from the males) not surprisingly danced about children and hearth. Although the sexes do not interact during their respective dances, they each have a set of rhythms, harmonies, ostinati, that intricately blend with everyone else. Several days ago I referred to this as their imitation of the sounds of nature in a cacophony of their own making.

The young man then took us inside one of the mud and thatch huts where we were given a lesson about living a tribal life. Interestingly, we were met at the opening of the first hut by a woman who refused to offer us admission to her home. (Can't blame her). At the second hut we had better luck as the woman who lived there was sitting inside quietly nursing her two year old child.


Here is the story as told by our young guide:
In this village the chief has 10 wives. Each wife has her own hut where she raises her children fathered by the chief. Wives are not allowed to have but one spouse. The chief can buy as many wives as he has the cows to barter with another Maasai tribe! He then rotates each night to a different wife/hut for mating. The children of the "chosen" mate for the night are then sent to sleep with another wife for the evening.

Each wife builds her own hut out of clay, cow dung, and straw. The roof is made of sticks overlaid with clay and straw. Light comes through built in holes in the structure of the walls. The floors are dirt and there are two beds in every hut; one for the mother and children/ the other for mating purposes for those nights when the chief comes to sleep. This sounds quite like the arrangement that the lions have.

The wives are solely responsible for raising the children, cooking the food, building the huts, and herding the cows (if the warriors are otherwise indisposed). The chief's job is to oversee the wives and mate with them!!!

Maasai are strictly carnivores. They mainly subsist on milk and the blood of animals. Meat is for special occasions. There is a fire pit in each hut and smoke is emitted from holes in the roof.
Each hut has a place for storage of firewood and cooking utensils.

Boys are circumcised between the ages of 12 and 18. If a boy cries or flinches during the circumcision, he is forever relegated to be among the women. This is a terrible stigma.
Once a boy is circumcised, he becomes a warrior and is responsible for protecting the village's herd of cows. Once he turns 25 he may marry a Maasai girl from another tribe if he has the cows to buy her!

Once the wife is bought she leaves her tribe of origin to go live in the tribe with her new husband. There is a ceremony, exchange of jewelry. Girls are married off at 15 or 16. Girls are circumcised between the ages of 14 and 16 (ostensibly to make child bearing easier).

Women are basically slaves and the bearer of children.

There is a strong government movement to educate the young children of the Maasai by sending them to private westernized schools in Arusha primarily supported by America.

Our next stop was the Aldara Gorg, home of mankind. This is the place where scientists believe humans first evolved and started their inexorable trek northward to Europe and Asia and ultimately across the Bering Strait to North American down to South America (30, 000,000 years ago).

We stayed in the Serena Lodge this night and had fun watching tribal Sindimba dancing that originated in Zanzibar. Beautiful costumes and drumming.