Hello! Welcome back to my blog. Today we will be talking about one of the tribes I had the chance to learn about from my Secondary Four Geography textbook, the Maasai Tribe. They are well known to give tours in Tanzania and Kenya to curious tourists. Tourists are given a chance to explore the tribe’s village and participate in their traditions such as singing and dancing at the campfire. [1]
When I was learning about Ecotourism in Secondary School, I always thought that it was a splendid activity. The tribe could benefit from the revenue earned from tourists and the tourists could learn and discover new customs and traditions from the tribe. What’s there not to like about this arrangement?
After reading up and educating myself, now I realise that the world is not always fair. How much of these activities shown are authentic? Are these tribes given sufficient economic revenue from the tourism company that is aiding them? I will be attempting to answer some of these questions in this blog today.
Many traditional customs carried out by the Maasai tribe are only done for festive occasions to celebrate. However, to entertain the visitors, the villagers carry out these customs such as dancing. Thus, these customs lose their true meaning and significance. The dancers become part of a performance troupe and are paid by employers. Even the village is an artificial experience as it is discovered that the Maasai do not actually live in the Maasai village. [2]
At the same time, the amount of money distributed to the Maasai is unfair compared to the work they do. In a study done, it is stated that the community receives as little as 10% of total revenue generated while as other stakeholders keep the 90%. [3] This shows that the Maasai villagers are exploited due to their weak bargaining power.
This makes me think, would it have been better to leave the Maasai tribe alone so that their rich heritage and culture could have continued to thrive and would not have become a money-making tool? However, the Maasai tribe was in trouble as their land was taken away by the Kenya government and they were restricted from accessing basic necessities such as water. [4] Tourism had helped them to secure land rights and give them a place to stay.
In the end, I believe that introduction to tourism was necessary for the Maasai tribe to prevent deaths but tourists may want to research on truly sustainable companies that support the tribe wholeheartedly instead of treating them as money generators. I believe that either way the traditions and heritage of the Maasai tribe would have never have been sustained.
[1]Betty G., August 2019. Retrieved from https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attraction_Review-g297913-d12903361-Reviews-Maasai_Tribe_Adventure-Arusha_Arusha_Region.html
[2]Edward M. Bruner, 27 December 2000. Retrieved from https://anthrosource-onlinelibrary-wiley-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/doi/pdfdirect/10.1525/ae.2001.28.4.881
[3]Jessica Coria, Enrique Calfucura, 22 November 2011. Retrieved from http://www.iheal.univ-paris3.fr/sites/www.iheal.univ-paris3.fr/files/!%20ecotourism%20&indigenous%20peples.pdf
[4]Prerna K. Sethi, 17 December 2013. Retrieved from https://gulfnews.com/going-out/society/maasai-a-dying-world-tribe-1.1268191