The Maasai are an ethnic group of people found in northern, central and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania in Eastern Africa. They have a long and noble history. Aside from their beautiful and distinctive costumes, they are also famous for being brave and fierce warriors and hunters.
Their lives are filled with tradition. For hundreds of years, there was one very important stage in a boy’s life when it was time for him to come of age. The boy, known as a Moran or young warrior, was challenged by the elders to hunt a lion. Killing a lion was seen by the Maasai as the ultimate act of bravery.
There were once thousands of lions roaming around the territory where the Maasai live. Today, however, lions have been hunted to such a high level and forced from their natural habitat that it is estimated that only 20,000 lions remain in the wild. Lion populations have declined by 43 per cent in the past 20 years.
A decision was made by Maasai elders that it was time to stop hunting lions and to care for them and the environment instead. But how could boys continue to prove their bravery and athletic skills? The Maasai began to work with a group called Big Life Foundation. Its objective is to work with local communities in East Africa to help protect nature.
In 2012, Big Life Foundation organised a sporting event that was based on traditional Maasai warrior skills. The event has become known as the Maasai Olympics, which today is overseen by 800 metre world record holder and gold medal Olympian, David Rudisha, who is himself from the Maasai. The event now takes place every two years.
Young Maasai men from four different villages receive training in five different events. If selected, they can compete in the Maasai Olympics in a Kenyan national park. If successful, they can win medals and cash prizes. The games include throwing a javelin, an alternative to traditional spear throwing, and throwing the ‘rungu’, a Maasai wooden club. There are also running races, including the 200 and 800 metres, and five kilometres. Young women compete in the 100 and 1,500 metre races.
The games represent a major move from killing animals to conservation. The young Maasai men seem very happy to compete in their special games in the knowledge that they are doing their best to protect, not destroy, the few remaining lions in Eastern Africa.
Hundreds compete in Kenya’s Maasai Olympics:
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