Manyatta

For every beast of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
Psalm 50:10

Some would find it a bit touristy, but these Masai families really do live here, raising their children, and teaching them the Masai way of life. We visited their manyatta during our trip to Masai Mara.


The manyatta is a cluster of mud and stick homes arranged in a large circle, with the spaces filled with branches of thorn trees to fend off predators. At night, the Masai men and boys bring their herds of cattle and goats into the manyatta, taking them out in the morning to graze on the Mara.

Masai life revolves around their cattle. They bleed off some of the blood, and drink the milk and the blood for nourishment. Sometimes they sell a cow so they can have cash for other food and sundries in the local village markets.

A group of women greeted us with singing, and the chief’s wife welcomed us. Some of the villagers have been to school and speak limited English, but many have not. The young men sang and performed a Masai line dance, and showed us how to quickly start a fire with two pieces of wood and a scrap of dry cow dung.

One of the young men took us into his home, a small mud and stick structure that his wife had built for the family.

There is a small room where the goats are kept at night, a central room (about 6 by 8 feet in size) with a cooking stove built into the floor, and small platforms extending to each side for sleeping, one for him and his wife, and one for their infant child. The smell of smoke filled the air as ugali was cooking over the fire, and it was dark, with light coming only through small vertical slits built into the mud walls.

The younger children captured our hearts. Some will grow up to carry on life in the manyatta, raising another generation of Masai herdsmen.



Others will seek an education, and become business people or professionals in other parts of Kenya. None will forget the life they knew as children growing up on the Mara.

- Doug