Maasi Warrior
This warrior was demonstrating his strength at throwing a spear… to know why is a longer story.

On our way from Karatu to Ndutu, we stopped at a Massi village to see one of the native tribes and how they live.  Unfortunately, I found it a bit ‘disneyland’…  clearly it wasn’t a real village like the ones we saw along the side of the road as we travelled, instead it was mostly a tourist trap setup to sell souvenirs.  Everyone was dressed in their best clothes and had time for dancing and posing for photographs.

Nothing wrong with this of course, but I was expecting something more ‘authentic’.

Kevin Pepper, our tour leader, pulled a guide aside and explained that we wanted to do something different.  “Can we get some of the young warriors to come into the open and throw spears across the Serengeti?” This seemed to take them by surprise, and there was lots of chatter in Swahili as they tried to figure out what we wanted, and also what to do about it…  But within a few minutes, some young men appeared with their spears and we tried to explain what we wanted.

The first few throws were tentative… they really didn’t know what we were trying to shoot.  But then Kevin showed them photos of the first throws and suddenly we had a party!  OK, now they got it and then spears were FLYING across the plains.  Each warrior wanted more chances to look their best.

As we finished, we found a crowd gathered behind us… Everyone was crowding around the photographers now, pointing and laughing at the photos and each other. 

In the end, it is a good memory.
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