KENYA - Inhabiting much of the Great Rift Valley of Kenya and northern Tanzania, the Maasai people mainly live as the semi-nomadic pastoralists they always have been.

Attempts by both governments to encourage assimilation through various incentives have largely failed. The population of a million Maasai prefer their traditional ways to the problems associated with cities and modern society. Their one concession to the 21st Century is the use of cellphones.

Despite being dispossessed of some of their most desirable ancestral lands through the spread of agriculture and ranching and the formation of national parks and game reserves over the years, the Maasai cling steadfastly onto their lifestyle and culture, even if a few have moved away, turned to farming, or work in the safari tourist trade.

The Maasais’ homes, called manyattas, are constructed of sticks, mud, and cow dung. Intended to be temporary, they're nothing fancy, with a low ceiling, a door, a few window openings, and a sleeping platform. Animal hides are used to pad the bed.

The rooms are cramped by Western standards. A typical home consists of a front room with a fire pit, a bedroom, and an adjacent room for keeping chickens or goats at night. Possessions are very few.

Life revolves around their cattle, which legend says were put on earth by their god Enkai for the Maasai to tend. A thornbush barrier called an enkang surrounds the village to protect its people and their livestock from predators like lions and leopards.

The diet of the Maasai consists mostly of meat and dairy. Milk is collected in the mornings before the cows are taken away during the day to graze on conservancies, then brought back in the evening.

Once every two weeks and on special occasions, a tourniquet is placed around the necks of the cows. Their bulging jugular veins are pierced and blood is collected. Extracting about a liter of blood at each letting, the cow’s owner mixes it with milk. Several men help in the process, and the blood and milk mixture are often shared among villagers. Honey, foraged plants and tubers, and maize-meal used to make porridge are some of their other typical foods.

Many Maasai villages border national parks and game reserves. Offering tours of their settlements to tourists on safari is a logical fit. Though the Maasai mainly rely on barter, the hard income they receive from tours goes toward medicine for themselves and their cows, clothing, grain, and other essentials.

Dancing is an important part of Maasai culture. Traditionally performed by young warriors known as morans, the adumu is a jumping dance that features their strength and agility. Attaining heights of three feet each time they leap into the air is usual for the tall, slender, and athletic Maasai.

For purposes of amusing themselves while entertaining guests, men as old as fifty sometimes take part in the activity.

Tourists are often invited to join in. On my most recent visit to a Maasai village outside Masai Mara National Reserve, I suggested that if I could jump higher than they did, my tour should be free. With a likelihood of nil, my safari guide joked that they would probably make me chief and award a couple of wives if that occurred.

A demonstration of fire-making is part of the show. Neither disposable lighter nor matches are necessary. A man began twirling a stick set upon a block of wood with his hands. Five minutes passed with only a wisp of smoke visible. A second man replaced him, with another bearing down on the top of the stick. A third man helped spin the stick.

After considerable effort, a small ember was dumped into a bundle of dried grass cupped in one of the fire-maker’s hands. Gently blowing on the kindling bundle, more and more smoke was produced until finally a flicker of flame appeared. Fire!

To read more about the Maasai, go to www.davegibsonimages.com, under Articles, “Maasai Children,” July 4, 2019, and “The Maasai,” May 5, 2011.