Maasai Culture

One of the stops during our safari in Tanzania was at a Maasai village.

The Maasai people welcomed us with a sort of chanting dance. In America I would’ve considered it unusual, but here it seemed normal. Keegan, Mr. Cox, Mom and I all got pulled into the dancing. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it, but I did. We danced over another clearing this time nearer to the huts, and the men formed a circle while the women made a line a bit farther away.

One by one, sometimes repeating, the men stepped in the middle of the circle and did about 3 – 10 jumps, trying to go as high as possible. In Maasai culture the mightiest warriors are determined by how high they can jump. A couple times I even stepped into the circle and did some jumping! I loved it. Later, Dad told me that I looked like the highest jumper (I had a lot of practice box jumping in Iceland).

Next, the son of the chief showed us how they made fire without any matches.

We also got to see inside a typical Maasai hut and then we visited the kindergarten (3-7 yrs).

The little kids were so cute! When we walked into the tiny classroom, the students were reciting the English alphabet and the numbers. Kids would come up to the chalkboard and use a stick to point to the characters written on the wall, and the group sitting down chanted each letter/number as it was pointed to. The son of the chief asked me if I wanted to try leading the class in the English lesson, so I gladly accepted. When I finished the alphabet, they all cheered and clapped for me. These kids touched my heart!

I had an amazing experience in this Maasai village.