A Visit to a Maasai Warrior Village
The exploration of Tanzania’s most magnificent national parks, towns, and culture was topped off with a visit to a traditional Maasai Warrior village. Out of the middle of nowhere a tree branch fence appeared and within it was about 15 small huts. Little did I know, the experience I had with the Maasai people would become the memory of a lifetime.
We were greeted by a group of the village’s men and women who performed a traditional Maasai welcoming song and dance. The young men then proceeded to begin a display of their most cherished competition, the jump. Each of the men stepped up to show off how high they could jump from a standing, straight leg position. I was thoroughly impressed. I was then invited to join in on this competition by the village leader. I stepped out of my comfort zone, and showed these men that maybe a white man can actually jump! What an experience it was to line up with these native people and share in their most celebrated rituals.
After spending some time viewing the village’s hand made jewelry, pottery, and other goods, we were invited to view the village school. We were escorted by two village elders to a small straw hut that served as the classroom. In it we were greeted by children smiling and singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the ABC’s. How astonishing was this moment, I thought? Here we were in the middle of the Tanzanian desert, sitting in on a Maasai school lesson, in which children were singing songs that I grew up with. I felt truly lucky to be a part of such an out of this world experience and even more blessed to be able to document it.
Looking into these children’s eyes and seeing the pure joy within them was unparalleled. Without any direction at all each of them delivered genuinely happy, loving, and curious expressions for my camera. We were not seen as intruding American tourists but rather welcomed friends. These children have absolutely nothing, no possessions and little knowledge of what life is like outside of the Maasai tribe, but you couldn’t see a glimpse of that. Nothing made their true personality show more than to show the children a photo I had just taken of them. Their faces lit up. For children who never get to look in the mirror, this was Christmas. The faces of the Maasai Warrior’s adults and children are forever engrained in my mind.