Maasai Tribe
The Maasai are a Nilotic ethnic group found in northern, middle, and southern Kenya, as well as northern Tanzania. They are one of the most well-known local populations in the world due to their proximity to the several wildlife parks of the African Great Lakes, as well as their peculiar rituals and dress. Except for a few elders in rural regions, the majority of Maasai people speak Swahili and English, the official languages of Kenya and Tanzania. In exchange for a charge, many Maasai tribes in Tanzania and Kenya allow visitors to their communities to learn about their culture, customs, and way of life.
Maasai Tribe
Pastoralism in Africa
Pastoralism and pastoral livestock production are very important to the livelihood and economy of Africa’s semi-arid areas. Due to long-term climate change, around 7,000 years ago; it spread throughout Northern Africa as an adaptation to the constantly changing and unpredictable arid climate. Pastoralism in Africa is practiced in 43 percent of the landmass.
More than 22 million Africans rely on some type of pastoral activity for a living. Among them are Bedouins, Berbers, Maasai, Somali, Boran, and Turkana. Today, the bulk of them live in semi-arid grasslands or dry deserts, where rainfed agriculture is difficult. They raise cattle, camels, goats, sheep, and donkeys, and sell milk, meat, skins, and wool. Some augment their meager and uncertain earnings from pastoralism through commerce and transportation, while others combine mobile lifestyle activity with agriculture.
The lives of African pastoralists changed tremendously over colonial and post-colonial times. From the late 19th century, the British colonial government in east Africa started expanding land under cultivation. As cultivation expanded, pasturelands turned to cultivated fields and this brought a number of problems for the pastoralists and their lives became tough.
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