Masai battle for land in changing times

NAIROBI – Arrayed in beads and scarlet robes, east Africa’s Masai warrior-herdsmen possess a physical grace and pastoralist culture that enchant modern-day visitors.

But the estimated 1,5 million strong Masai, touted as the archetypal image of east Africa for tourists, have a sad history of confrontation with both colonial and independent governments over their need for cattle-grazing land. One of very few African tribes to have almost entirely rejected the trappings and temptations of a Western lifestyle, many Masai have defiantly held on to their traditions in their Kenyan and Tanzanian rangelands.Rejecting the allure of wealth represented by Nairobi’s skyscrapers, they appear to be part of an earlier age.Some Masai have settled, and some are semi-nomadic:Besides keeping livestock many also cultivate land and earn money from wildlife tourism.Educated Masai have top jobs as politicians, scientists, lawyers, judges, teachers and academics.But a substantial majority remain pastoralist stock herders who require large areas of land to graze cattle and goats.It is this hunger for territory that has embroiled them in a simmering land row with Kenyan authorities.They are calling for the return of pasture they say was taken from them and unfairly given to European settlers more than 100 years ago.Their story of dispossession attracts the sympathy of many in Kenya but a spate of Masai farm invasions carried out in support of their demands has attracted the wrath of the government.With one eye on the land crisis in Zimbabwe, the authorities have deployed paramilitary police to guard ranches and said it will fiercely protect property.While both disputes share a colonial backdrop, the contemporary Kenyan row has few racial parallels with Zimbabwe.CHARMING REGIONThe land in question in Laikipia district is now mostly held by Kenyan small-scale farmers, although the area also has some modern commercial farms, also owned by Kenyans, both black and white, as well as by some Europeans.The Kenyan dispute has its origins in high-altitude green pastures long held by Masai until the late 19th century when British colonialists deemed them ideal for European settlement.”A more charming region is probably not to be found in all Africa,” British traveller Joseph Thomson reported after an 1883-4 journey to Masai areas.Under a series of agreements the Masai were moved from Laikipia by colonial officials seeking space for European settlement.Masai also later clashed with post-independence governments who tried to impose development schemes based on fixed settlements, schools, hospitals and roads.British colonial officials saw the nomads as a warrior race to be studied, respected and feared, but still subjugated.For several centuries Masai warriors had dominated much of East Africa by force of arms.The moran – young male warriors – held sedentary African farming communities in disdain.They saw no greater duty than protecting their fathers’ herds, which they rely on totally for their diet of meat, milk and blood, and capturing other people’s.Under their folklore, God gave all the world’s cattle to the Masai.One leading white settler, Lord Delamere, reportedly admired the moran so much that when they stole his cattle he refused to prosecute — and even applauded the cunning tricks they used.The Masai were seen as fearless, proud and intelligent.They fought for the British in early military raids against other tribes, and in World War One they gave thousands of cows to feed British troops and spied for Britain in German East Africa.Many Europeans also admired the Masai’s apparent freedom, their nomadic lifestyle uncluttered by possessions and their comradeship – the age-set of “brothers” all circumcised at once.- Nampa-ReutersOne of very few African tribes to have almost entirely rejected the trappings and temptations of a Western lifestyle, many Masai have defiantly held on to their traditions in their Kenyan and Tanzanian rangelands.Rejecting the allure of wealth represented by Nairobi’s skyscrapers, they appear to be part of an earlier age.Some Masai have settled, and some are semi-nomadic:Besides keeping livestock many also cultivate land and earn money from wildlife tourism.Educated Masai have top jobs as politicians, scientists, lawyers, judges, teachers and academics.But a substantial majority remain pastoralist stock herders who require large areas of land to graze cattle and goats.It is this hunger for territory that has embroiled them in a simmering land row with Kenyan authorities.They are calling for the return of pasture they say was taken from them and unfairly given to European settlers more than 100 years ago.Their story of dispossession attracts the sympathy of many in Kenya but a spate of Masai farm invasions carried out in support of their demands has attracted the wrath of the government.With one eye on the land crisis in Zimbabwe, the authorities have deployed paramilitary police to guard ranches and said it will fiercely protect property.While both disputes share a colonial backdrop, the contemporary Kenyan row has few racial parallels with Zimbabwe.CHARMING REGIONThe land in question in Laikipia district is now mostly held by Kenyan small-scale farmers, although the area also has some modern commercial farms, also owned by Kenyans, both black and white, as well as by some Europeans.The Kenyan dispute has its origins in high-altitude green pastures long held by Masai until the late 19th century when British colonialists deemed them ideal for European settlement.”A more charming region is probably not to be found in all Africa,” British traveller Joseph Thomson reported after an 1883-4 journey to Masai areas.Under a series of agreements the Masai were moved from Laikipia by colonial officials seeking space for European settlement.Masai also later clashed with post-independence governments who tried to impose development schemes based on fixed settlements, schools, hospitals and roads.British colonial officials saw the nomads as a warrior race to be studied, respected and feared, but still subjugated.For several centuries Masai warriors had dominated much of East Africa by force of arms.The moran – young male warriors – held sedentary African farming communities in disdain.They saw no greater duty than protecting their fathers’ herds, which they rely on totally for their diet of meat, milk and blood, and capturing other people’s.Under their folklore, God gave all the world’s cattle to the Masai.One leading white settler, Lord Delamere, reportedly admired the moran so much that when they stole his cattle he refused to prosecute — and even applauded the cunning tricks they used.The Masai were seen as fearless, proud and intelligent.They fought for the British in early military raids against other tribes, and in World War One they gave thousands of cows to feed British troops and spied for Britain in German East Africa.Many Europeans also admired the Masai’s apparent freedom, their nomadic lifestyle uncluttered by possessions and their comradeship – the age-set of “brothers” all circumcised at once.- Nampa-Reuters