Maasai
A pastoral people of Kenya and Tanzania for whom cattle are the centre of life and belief.
Also: Masai, Il Maasai
The Maasai live in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, in the grasslands of the Rift Valley around the Serengeti and the Maasai Mara. Herding cattle, with goats and sheep, is at the heart of their way of life, and a well-known tradition holds that the god Enkai gave all the cattle in the world to the Maasai. Their cattle, mostly East African Shorthorn Zebu along with Boran, provide milk, meat, hides and, on some occasions, blood drawn from a neck vein without killing the animal. Homesteads, called enkang, are rings of houses within a thorn fence that shelters the cattle at night. Loss of grazing to farms, parks and towns is a major pressure on the Maasai today.