What problems do the Maasai face?

Climate change is extending years of dry seasons in East Africa, and long droughts are threatening the tribe with extinction. (“Maasai Culture,” n.d.) Due to extended dry seasons and droughts, their crops and resources are dying, leaving them with no food or source of water to live on.

What type of society are the Maasai?

The Maasai are a modern pastoral society with an economy largely structured around herds of cattle.

Are the Maasai a pastoral society?

Masai warriors and boys performing a traditional dance in Kenya. Maasai, also spelled Masai, nomadic pastoralists of East Africa. The pastoral Maasai are fully nomadic, wandering in bands throughout the year and subsisting almost entirely on the meat, blood, and milk of their herds. …

How have the Maasai tribe adapted to their environment?

The Maasai peoples have adapted to having a diet of mostly raw meat, milk and blood as it is very hard to grow and fruit and vegetables in the dry soil that they have. No one knows what the future will hold for the Maasai people and their traditional life style.

Why are the Maasai so tall?

#3 The Maasai belong to the tallest people in the world It’s because of their rich calcium diet that they are so tall. They seem taller because of their world famous high jumps. It’s not just random jumping. It’s called ‘Adamu’ and carries a deeper meaning.

Why do Maasai drink blood?

The Maasai, an ethnic group of semi-nomadic people who inhabit in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, drink cow blood on special occasions – circumcision of a child, the birth of a baby and on the occasion of a girl’s marriage. It also is given to drunken elders to alleviate intoxication and hangover.

How many wives can a Maasai have?

Girls belonging to the first group are allowed to have sexual relationships with young morans, as a matter of fact, each girl can have up to three lovers, one of them will be chosen as a favourite, whereas the other two will take his place when he is outside the village or unavailable.

Why are Maasai so tall?

They are the tallest people on earth but the Maasai do get very close. With their long limbs, they belong to the tallest people of Africa. It’s because of their rich calcium diet that they are so tall. They seem taller because of their world famous high jumps.

Are Maasai tall?

They are considered one of the tallest people in the world with average height of 6 ft 3 inches according to some reports. Traditionally, the Maasai diet consisted of raw meat, raw milk, and raw blood from cattle.

Are the Maasai poor?

Like most poor women in African nations, the majority of Maasai women in Kenya are destined to live a life of poverty and cultural oppression. Just one generation ago, less than 20 percent of Maasai women in Kenya enrolled in school.

Are Maasai people healthy?

The surprising results of the field study show that the Maasai are in a good health status in spite of a limited diet. Blood tests showed that there is a high content of healthy omega-3 fatty acids in their erythrocyte membranes, the cell walls of the red blood cells, even though these acids are not ingested.

Are the Maasai rich?

Traditionally, the Maasai are livestock keepers. Most outsiders considered the Maasai to be wealthy, as many of them kept large herds of cattle (Tignor, 1972). However, the large herds were owned by many individuals and, oftentimes, the distribution of livestock among members of a community was highly uneven.

What are the problems of the Maasai tribe?

What problems do they face? One threat to the Maasai has come from from game hunters in the Loliondo region of northern Tanzania. Here, Maasai villages have been burnt to the ground by the authorities, and thousands have brutally evicted to provide a company, Otterlo Business Corporation Ltd (OBC), with more access to land for game hunting.

How did the Maasai people build their houses?

As a historically nomadic and then semi-nomadic people, the Maasai have traditionally relied on local, readily available materials and indigenous technology to construct their housing. The traditional Maasai house was in the first instance designed for people on the move and was thus very impermanent in nature.

How old are young men in the Maasai tribe?

Between the ages of about 14 and 30, young men are traditionally known as morans. During this life stage they live in isolation in the bush, learning tribal customs and developing strength, courage, and endurance—traits for which Maasai warriors are noted throughout the world.

How did the Maasai system of social integration work?

The basic institution of social integration, however, is the system of age-sets. Under this system, groups of the same age are initiated (circumcised) into adult life during the same open-initiation period; the age-class thus formed is a permanent grouping, lasting the life of its members.