People & Culture

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Maasai Adventure in ‘Mother of the World’

Posted: Wednesday June 24, 2009 2:52 AM BT

By Daniel Yamat

Since I was a boy, I have dreamed of going to Egypt. The Land of the Pharaohs. The Gift of the Nile. Modern Egyptians call their country, "the Mother of the World."

Like being whisked away on a magic carpet, I soon found myself in the heart of the largest city on the African continent and in the Arab world. And you think the traffic in Bongoland is bad!? The congested highways and wild drivers of Cairo make Arusha seem as peaceful as my neighbouring village of Soit Sambu.

The festivities kicked off at the Cairo Conrad Hotel where the Africa Travel Association World Congress took place. TTB hosted an awards dinner attended by such distinguished guests as the honorable Minister of Tourism Shamsa Mwangunga and the Tanzanian Ambassador to Egypt Ali Shauri Haji.

Such a special evening requires the most exquisite attire. That is why I donned only the brightest and best of my shuka cloths and beaded jewelry. I even polished my Maasai sandals! It was my small way of honoring my heritage and the countless community members around the Enashiva Nature Refuge who have made conservation successful.

I must say that my traditional dress gave me more trouble than I bargained for. In the middle of a hotel reception room in Cairo, I felt like a Maasai on a road in Ngorongoro! I couldn't walk ten yards without cameras flashing and people wanting their photo taken with me. The bedazzled look on the faces of the hotel security guards when they saw a traditionally dressed morani heading out into the Egyptian night bearing an award in the form a Makonde ujamaa sculpture is something I will not likely ever forget.

My Egypt adventure later took me to the Great Pyramids of Giza. I had a most gracious host from Jet Arrow Travel who happened to have once served in Egypt's High Commission in Uganda and had traveled through all of northern Tanzania's parks and knew Arusha very well. I felt very welcomed and respected.

At Giza, I climbed up the steps of that ancient Wonder of the World, which, of course, served as a burial site and memorial for the pharaohs and was miraculously built over 4000 years ago. I even had a look inside its chambers. You know, for us Tanzanians, visiting a tomb if you are not at a funeral is something of a taboo. But what an extraordinary tomb! The biggest of the pyramids is nearly 500 feet tall and was built with 2.5 million bricks each weighing 2.6 tonnes.

At that site, I was also beheld with awe the Great Sphinx, a creature with the body of lion and the head of a man that is also largest natural monument in the world. I would not want to run into such a mythological beast in the Serengeti!

On another day, my generous hosts led me to a camel ride through the Sahara Desert and a cruise over the Nile River. I walked away from this safari with a deeper appreciation for Egypt both the bustling modern country and the kingdom of old.

I even learned that the ancient Egyptians valued cattle as their most prized livestock. They were greatly influenced by the neighbouring Nubia kingdom, whose dark-skinned people spoke a Nilo-Saharan language. They embraced a spiritual view of the natural world and universe that held all humans, livestock, wild animals, and even plants to be a part of a collective whole that needed to be balanced. Kumbe! As a Maasai, a veterinarian, and a proud graduate of Mweka College of Wildlife Management, I found this to be inspiring.

We Maasai have long known that community-based conservation is nothing new. Westerners did not bring conservation to Africa. It has existed here for millennia. Today there are just many new challenges.

I return to Arusha and the Enashiva Nature Refuge with a renewed passion for conservation, communities, and that precious balance. Indeed, new ideas of preserving an ecosystem can be combined with ancient ones.

I again humbly thank TTB and the communities of Loliondo. Ashe oleng.

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