Saturday, July 25, 2009

The Masai

It is true, white men can't jump - or at least this one can't jump like a Masai. A visit to a Boma camp during safari was a treat. These people, like many tribes in Africa, are colorful and interesting. The women build the bomas or houses out of straw, mud and cow dung! The animals come into the small huts to sleep with them at night. Pretty cramped and smelly dwellings. I was truely amazed at the great distances I saw the men walking as they strolled across the plains with their red dress and sticks. In the village, which is several bomas surrounded by an acacia "fence" of thorns, many of the men tried to trade their sticks for my cheap casio watch. What they would do with a watch, I will never know - probably just a status symbol.

In the one photo, I am standing with the son of the 95 year old chief, the incumbant. Not as tall as your typical Masai.