(This, the first of two posts on the Ngorongoro Maasai, describes them as they were in the 1960’s. The second, coming in a few months, will describe their present situation, over half a century later.)

Kapenjiru, 1965. That night we ate goat meat roasted over a campfire while Solomon ole Saibull regaled us with stories, including how the agro-pastoral Arusha, who had originated from elements of the Kisongo, the principle sub-tribe, or section, of the Maasai, had, a few hundred years ago, pushed the agricultural Meru people from some of their land on Mt. Meru. Even more interesting, however, because we were near the place concerned, was his story about how the Kisongo defeated another sub-tribe of the Maasai, the Lumbwa, for possession of the Crater Highlands. The decisive battle took place on the rim of Empakaai Crater.

“What happened to the defeated warriors?”

Solomon shrugged, “What do you think? They were thrown over a cliff.”

Maasai murrani or warrior. Photo by Herman Dirschl.

Given the propensity in the nineteenth century for the various elements of the Maasai to slaughter one another, the Kisongo and Lumbwa might just as easily have fought over possession of barren rock. The Ngorongoro Crater Highlands, however, were a prize worth fighting for because they contained prime dry season grazing. Furthermore, in times of drought, they were a refuge for herders living in he surrounding, drier rangelands (or at least those on good terms with the Crater Highland’s occupants).

Grasslands (yellow) of the Serengeti Plains comprise the largest area of rangelands in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. However, the grasslands of the Crater Highlands can support 2-5 times as many livestock and people. Map courtesy of David Bygott and Jeannette Hanby.

Thus, it isn’t surprising that the rangelands of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area have been inhabited by livestock-keeping peoples for a very long time. The Iraqw or Mbulu people first introduced livestock, and possibly also agriculture, to the area some 2,000-2,500 years ago. Around 1,000-1,500 BC, they were replaced by the Datog (or Barabaig, Tatua) who were in turn driven out by the Maasai sometime around 1850.

A deeply worn livestock trail on Makarut Mtn, indicative of thousands of years of use by herds of livestock. Pictured: Herman Dirschl, Canadian Wildlife Service.

A century and a half later, Maasai pastoralists still occupy the Crater Highlands and adjacent eastern Serengeti Plains. Most are Kisongo Maasai. The smaller Serenget and Salei sections occupy the eastern Serengeti Plains and Oldoinyo Gol Mtns. Many of these Maasai pastoralists were moved there from the western Serengeti Plains in what is now the Serengeti National Park.

When I was at Ngorongoro in the mid-1960’s, the Maasai still largely subsisted on milk, meat, and skins from their livestock. However, whenever milk was scarce, as in the late dry season and during droughts, they also ate grains obtained from dukas (shops) or neighboring agro-pastoralists, such as the Arusha Maasai, who also farmed. They raised goats, sheep, and donkeys (the latter for hauling things), but strongly emphasized cattle, which were the principal producers of milk. In the wet season when milk was most abundant, the Maasai lived only on it. Cattle, primarily bulls, were slaughtered for meat only on special occasions, such as ox-feasts helped by the warriors. Instead, the Maasai ate goats or sheep when they wanted meat.

Donkeys being used as pack animals in the Crater Highlands. The 6-7,000 ft (2,000-2,135 m) high grasslands pictured here were used for dry season grazing. In the background is 11,811 ft (3,600 m) Lolmalasin Mtn.

Having large herds was important. The more animals, the greater chance some would survive to rebuild the herd after a drought, outbreak of disease, or major stock theft. Also, the more milk a pastoralist’s herd produced, the more people he could support. (Human carrying capacity is maximized by emphasizing milk, rather than meat in diets: Milk has a higher caloric value.) Having many cattle also conferred prestige–he with many animals was an important man.

As were their predecessors, the Datog, and probably also the Iraqw/Mbulu before them, the Maasai were transhumant pastoralists, who moved between dry season and wet season pastures (the latter in the eastern Serengeti Plains and floor of the Rift Valley). Thus, when water sources dried up and forage was depleted by grazing on the lower, drier rangelands, livestock were returned to dry season pastures in the highlands where water and forage, the latter often still green and nutritious, were still abundant.

Cattle on wet season pasture in the Olbalbal, a large, shallow depression watered by outflow from Oldupai Gorge.

A Maasai’s home, or boma, consisted of huts encircled by a stockade of cut thorn bushes or upright logs (depending on the local vegetation), which also served as a corral for livestock. Constructed of frames of poles plastered with fresh cow dung mixed with mud and cow urine, the huts were dark and smoky inside. Nonetheless, they were remarkably free of flies and mosquitoes, and fluctuated little in temperature day and night.

A view of the Olbalbal Depression and Crater Highlands from a Maasai (Serenget or Salei) boma in the eastern Serengeti Plains.

Bomas were abandoned when cow dung and parasites reached unacceptable levels. Long after fences and huts disappeared, old boma sites were marked by dense stands of dark green nettles and other plants growing on their nutrient-rich deposits of dung.

Building and maintaining a boma’s huts were the responsibility of the women, who also did the milking, gathered water and wood, cooked, cared for the children, attended calving, and dealt with night-time disturbances within the herd of corralled livestock.

Maasai ladies on the rim of Ngorongoro Crater. Note the brand new (and therefore almost pristine white) Amerikani cloth, a cheap, bleached calico named for American traders who exported it to East Africa in the mid 19th century.

Young boys and girls did the herding, assisted by warriors and elders whenever herding and watering became difficult. After circumcision, the boys became warriors or murran, who carried out difficult, long-distance herd movements, defended their locality, recaptured stolen cattle, and (at least in the past) raided other tribes, including the neighboring Mbulu and Sukuma, for livestock. Exempt from regular herding, murran hunted lions, feasted on ox-meat, consorted with young, unmarried girls, and formed strong, lasting bonds with their age-mates. Boys looked forward to becoming murran, and elders fondly remembered their time as warriors. However, like it or not, by their mid-40’s, all murran became married elders responsible for managing their herds, and taking part in political and religious affairs.

Maasai murran watching an airplane being refueled on the floor of Ngorongoro Crater.

Despite what a European visitor to a Maasai boma, swatting away flies that bred in the accumulated dung on the stockade floor, might think, the Maasai felt they were living the ‘Good Life.’ Proud of their reputation for being fierce warriors and possessing an abundance of that which, in their eyes, any sane person would want, i.e., cattle, they had everything they desired.

Thus, the Maasai have tended to be conservative and resistant to change, such as in educating children and selling cattle at livestock markets. This attitude has frustrated government officials, both pre-and post-independence, and given the Maasai a reputation for being backward.

Even so, despite contributing little to the regional economy, subsistence pastoralism, prior to the advent of tourism, was the major land use throughout most of what is now the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

PRINCIPAL REFERENCE.

Homewood & Rodgers. 1991. Maasailand Ecology: Pastoralist Development and Wildlife Conservation in Ngorongoro, Tanzania. Cambridge University Press.)