A Farcical Conversation with the Masai Men and Tourism Fatigue

 

 

Mara, our guide, the Chief’s son: We don’t eat any crop. No vegetables, fruit, grains. We drink cow’s blood siphoned from their neck, mixed with milk and eat the cows and goats once in a while.

Me: Do you eat the chickens? Pointing to the few chickens that are scratching near by.

Mara: gestures to the sky to indicate superstition. No. We don’t eat the chickens. We trade them.

Me: How often do you drink the cow’s blood? How often do you eat meat?

Mara: Everyday.

Me: You drink the blood and eat meat every day?

Mara: Yes. After the circumcision ceremony, the boy must go and kill a lion on his own. That is the mark of becoming a man. Then you can marry. You can have 4 wives as a Masai Man.

Me: The first wife is chosen by the family?

Mara: Yes. You can choose yourself after the first wife.

Me: How many cows do you have to give for a wife?

Mara: Ten.

Me: Ten for the second wife too?

Mara: Yes.

—

Me: Did you have to kill a lion?

Tribe Man #1: Yes.

Me: Tell me about the time when you killed the lion.

(silence brought on by confusion)

Tribe Man #2: We were out there with him and there were eight of us.

Me: I thought you had to kill the lion by yourself?

Tribe Man #1: I did.

Me: Were you alone or did you have help?

(again, confusion and silence)

Me: How often do you drink the cow’s blood?

Tribe Man #2: Every couple of days.

Me: So you don’t have it every day?

Tribe Man #2: No

Me: How often do you have meat?

Tribe Man #2: Every few days.

Me: What else do you eat?

Tribe Man #2: A mixture of corn flour and water into a soup.

Me: Mara said you don’t eat any grains?!

Tribe Man #2: No we don’t.

Me: What did you do with the lion after you killed it?

Tribe Man #1: We take the mane, the teeth and the claws.

Me: What about the meat? Do you eat it?

Tribe Man #1: No. We leave that for the buffalos to eat.

(now I’m confused….buffalos are not carnivores)

Me: Do you have a big celebration after?

(again, confusion and silence)

Now these two men are trying to sell me things

Me: What do you need money for?

Tribe Man #2: What?

Me: You don’t have electricity, running water, you don’t grow crops and eat what the cow provides. I’m pretty sure you don’t have to pay taxes….your life is pretty self-sustaining. So what do you need money for?

Tribe Man #2: For school for the children.

Me: I thought the schools are free and paid for by the Kenyan government.

Tribe Man #2: For uniforms for the children.

Me: Those kids out there are not wearing uniforms and I have yet to see one in uniforms.

Tribe Man #2: To buy corn.

Me: Mara said you don’t eat any grains. But you eat corn? Who do you trade the chickens with?

Tribe Man #2: With other villages.

Me: Other Masai villages?

Tribe Man #2: Yes.

Me: Do they eat the chickens?

Tribe Man #2: No.

Me: What do they do with the chickens you trade with?

… (silence)…

—

Me: Are you the oldest son? Will you get to be Chief one day?

Mara: Yes. It will be a long time before I am Chief.

Me: But you are the oldest son?

Mara: Yes.

Me: What do you look for in a wife?

(confusion….)

Mara: My family will pick my first wife.

Me: Yes. But you get to pick the second one yourself right?

Mara: Yes.

Me: So what do you look for? A nice smile? Pretty eyes….? (I trail off not wanting to get too explicit)

Mara: (slightly awkward) Yes all of those things. You just talk to them as people.

(a few moments later)

Mara: I like you. I like your questions.

Me: Which wife is your mom?

Mara: The second wife.

Me: But you are the oldest son?

Mara: I am the oldest son by the second wife.

Me: How many sons are before you?

Mara: Two.

Me: How many brothers and sister are there?

Mara: Twenty-three.

Me: The women build the houses, cook and does most of the work. What do the men do all day?

… (silence) …

—

Tourism provides a substantial portion of income for the Masai, especially for the villages established near the entrance for the National Reserves. However, their lethargy and apathy towards tourism is evident. The dances they perform are mechanical, lacking in enthusiasm. The lack of clarity in the answers to the questions could be in part a language problem but it could just as well as a result from answering the question they believe the visitors wants to hear, irrespective if it is true. It seems nearly impossible to find any kind of clarity much less depth of understanding to the traditional way of the Masai as each answers contradicts the previous one.

Would it have been more responsible to have not gone on this Masai Village walk? Is an authentic experience even possible when the Masai are exhausted and disenchanted? Is responsible tourism possible with the tribes?