Faces Of Maasai: Pictures From My Photo Safari Trip To Tanzania

The past few years I have travelled to Tanzania on photo safari’s, and though it is great to see all the wildlife in the wild, the Maasai people are closest to my heart when I go to Africa. The Maasai are semi-nomadic people, and they live under a communal system where everyone helps within the village to manage the livestock and day to day chores.

The Maasai do not farm in a traditional sense, and they will not “Crack the ground” and do not rely on raising crops and instead on relying on their livestock for nutrition. The belief is that once you till the ground, it is no longer suitable for grazing.

The Maasai also have a belief that they own all the cows in the world, and this is how they measure their wealth. Both cattle and children are considered their most valuable asset.

Many times throughout our travels you will see boys in the side of the roads managing the cattle and taking them to their grazing grounds. Often they have painted faces and are going through a process of becoming a warrior and moving into adulthood. Some of these photos were taken in the villages, but often we stop on the side of the road in the middle of the nowhere and ask to take their photos. These are some of my favorite shots as the are impromptu and unexpected.

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