Photo Essay: The Masai Shepherds of Kenya

The Masai shepherds are often not visible on a trip to Kenya because they live in rugged areas with few or no passable roads to access them. Forget the problem that creates for inquisitive tourists; the true issue is the ways it cuts the Masai off from education, medical or veterinary care. Veterinary care would be their highest priority because their animals are their lives. In the nineteenth century the Masai were much feared and respected as warriors who would raid the surrounding areas for the cattle which their culture is based upon. But in the latter part of the century, they suffered greatly from dought and from diseases which decimated their herds and reduced their population. They are primarily nomadic as they are always following the rains and the available pasture land for their animals, and they travel and farm in groups of four or five families.

Their main staple of diet is fresh or curdled milk which they sometimes lace with blood from the jugular vein of a cow. Cattle are not eaten because they have sacred meaning in their culture. A cow would only be slaughtered for an important ceremony, such as the initiation to manhood of their fiftenn year old boys, and it is of great import to sacrifice one of their herd. They are known for their cattle, but they also raise sheep and goats which provide the meat for their families. It would be more pragmatic for them to care for fewer cattle, but they see them as gifts from God and also the only measure of a family's wealth. The brightest children of the family are chosen to be the shepherds because the task requires such resourcefulness and basic analytical skills to handle all the challenges. The children have virtually no education except of their own culture, and it is sadly becoming harder and harder for their culture to sustain them all.
I was at Hilltop Camp in Hell's Gate National Park, and I count it a privilege that there was a neighboring Masai family I watched one day. There is something so stunning about their traditional red and black capes juxtaposed with the green pastures around them. There are a variety of patterns of the capes, and you see them for sale in the local street markets. The red of the capes is another way they honor the blood of their cattle. Their lives are very simple by many Western standards, but they live them with dignity and grace.