SILAS KOIYAREN

You might wonder why we are so excited about our Maasai Warrior Training idea, and why we want to invite guests to come and experience life in what can be, for the most part, a pretty closed society. For me, it’s a combination of things.

Firstly, it means that our job allows us, as educated Kenyans, to earn our living within our culture, following our traditional lifestyle. Secondly, we work all day every day outdoors, our ‘meeting rooms’ and ‘offices’ are in the most beautiful landscapes, surrounded by nature. When you live this close to nature, you are listening to a different language. There are so many signals you begin to see and hear - the musky smell of a bull elephant, or the song of the honey guide bird - and you become more sensitive and develop an understanding for the surrounding environment. 

I think we all know that feeling of having been outside all day, doing good physical exercise, your muscles feel tired and useful and your senses sharpened. That feeling you used to have when you were a child. I think that’s the sense of fun and excitement and wonder, of which you will find here.

SAITA KITONGA

Sometimes we see tourists driving into the bush with their car so full of things; food and water and biscuits and equipment. I know that this is important, you don’t want to be without. But I find it funny to think that everything you need, once you can look, is around you.

I’m not expecting you to leave here and give up all your modern comforts, absolutely not. But it’ll surprise you how easy it is to survive in a place which looks so hostile.

My real passion here is bush medicine. I just have to look around a small area and will show you what you need to cure malaria, what to take after childbirth, even something which will clean out your stomach so strongly that afterwards you feel so light you can fly. All of this is here in the natural plants and herbs.

I am worried that we’re losing these plants and knowledge, and I have started a tree nursery at my home to save some, and I’m writing a book to get down on paper all the information I have learned from my grandparents and parents. My grandmother is 135, that’s what she tells me. The others laugh, but she told me  how to stay healthy and it seems to work for her.

LEMPARIS TORONKOS

I am a Maasai to the bone, you can immediately tell from my appearance: I always wear our traditional clothes and jewellery, as the tradition requires from warriors. I am very proud of our traditions and the values of our society, and I uphold them in my daily life, to make sure our culture remains strong in this time of changes and challenges. Our culture places a strong value on respect for others, people and animals: this is something that many other cultures have lost and I am proud to belong to a culture that still values this.

I like the rules and tasks I have to respect to belong to my age set, the Warriors. As warriors we are responsible of taking care of our cattle, the main source of wealth and livelihood for our people. It’s a tough job that prepares us for the challenges we will meet later in life, as I learnt during the last drought when I had to take my family’s cows to Meru, an area far away from here.

It was a challenging trip that lasted five months. We had to walk for 11 days with our cows weakened by the drought and exposed to the cold climate of Mount Kenya. We came across hostile tribes, and we learnt to negotiate our way through. Still, negotiations take time and our animals were already too weak to stay in places with no grass! We love our cows, and it pains us to see them cry and weaken.

We had to figure out solutions to problems we never faced at home: some of the cows were too weak to get to the river and drink, so we had to carry water to their place of pasture – for me this meant carrying 100 litres of water for 3 kilometres every day!

We had to learn to prevent illnesses and cure our animals at the first signs of disease: we’d inspect each cow three times a day, treating them as soon as there were any signs of sickness. In the end most of the warriors who came with us lost half or more of their cattle, but in my family we managed to bring back 105 of our cows out of 135 we had started with. I am very proud of this!