The Maasi and the Baboon

On our drive into the park yesterday we began to come through Maasi territory. The Maasi is a tribe that lives in Kenya and Tanzania. They are a well known tribe and we were thrilled to hear that there is a revival among the Maasi and that many of them are believers. Several things mark a true Maasi. They always wear RED. They pierce their ears at an early age and then continue to put larger things in the whole so that their lobes are stretched. (picture) They always have a gap between their two front teeth. If it is not there at birth, they either remove a tooth to make it there or put something between the teeth to insure the gap. If a young Maasi man has killed a lion, he will have scars on his arms. (If he ran from the lion, he will have scars on his back to show that he was a coward!) The Maasi women keep their heads shaved and do some beautiful beadwork. (yes, I bought some).

At this particular lodge where we are staying, there are several Maasi men who have been hired to control the baboons! Yes, because the eating areas are very open plus there are many chairs and small tables outside. The baboons are notorious for coming to the tables to steal food. The Maasi men (in their red) stand around with long sticks and homemade sling shots to keep them away. One Maasi man told me that when the baboon sees the red, he runs. It was evident he was right.

Rick had taken his coffee out on the veranda to enjoy the view. The Maasi man walked toward the door to help someone with a chair and two baboons set their plan to steal Rick’s sugar cube. One of the baboons walked toward the Maasi man to distract him. The other baboon quickly scurried down the roof ledge, jumped on to Rick’s table, grabbed the sugar, and scurried back up to the roof! Rick said it all happened so fast it was hard to take in.