Population ~400,000
Masai men walking to a jumping ceremony.
Possibly the most famous of all African tribes, the Maasai live along the semi-arid Great Rift Valley in Kenya and Tanzania. These expansive homelands are close to many of Africa’s top game parks, meaning the tribe is often in close contact with international tourists.
The Maasai are warriors who trace their ancestry to the northern Great Rift Valley in Sudan. Today the tribe are semi-nomadic and herd cattle, which they believe were a gift from the sky god Ngai, who lowered them to earth on a leather thong. Cattle are sacred, and used as both a measure of wealth and a source of sustenance, with the Maasai diet fortified by drinking a mix of cow milk and blood.
Along with drinking blood, Maasai culture includes a jumping dance, the wearing of colourful robes, and ceremonial spitting:
- The jumping dance is an initiation right for young men, with whoever has this highest jump being able to claim the best bride.
- Their colorful clothing is cloth called shuka, which comes in a range of symbolic colours – red to protect from wild animals, orange for friendship and hospitality, blue for the sky, and rains for cattle, yellow for fertility, and green for nourishment.
- Saliva is a fluid Massai share at certain times, such as spitting in the palm when shaking the hand of an elder or spitting onto a new-born baby’s head.