People/Culture:
Maasai women study a picture
Cloaked in red and blue cloth the Maasai tribe is pastoral people with a rich and colourful history. Renowned warriors, the Maasai conquered and settled a large area spanning from the Maasai Mara in Kenya down to the Tarangire region in Tanzania in which they still live. The Maasai are able to cross the Kenya-Tanzania border freely in search of suitable grazing land, which they often share with wildlife, for their cattle. Outside of Tanzanian National Parks it is not uncommon to see Maasai and his cattle in the same area as wildebeest, zebra, antelope, and giraffe. During the drought of 2009, Kenyan Maasai could be seen with their cattle searching for grass all the way down to Tarangire National Park – a distance of around 200 miles. The Maasai live in circular encampments called ‘bomas.’
Maasai moran are the traditional police.
Each boma contains one male with his wives and children as well as a cattle and livestock pen. East of Serengeti National Park and west of Lake Natron is an unbelievable landscape formed the splitting of two continental plates. This is called the Great Rift Valley and a place where volcanoes and massive amounts of erosion occur. In this beautiful but inhospitable land Maasai communities have lived for hundreds of years and in this area the villages of Piaya, Pinyinyi, and Engaresero, and Arash are located.
Justin Saikon is the first member of Piyaya village to go to university. Read more about his amazing journey here >
Tourism:
Tourist learning from Maasai
The eastern Serengeti region of Tanzania provides some of the best wildlife and landscape opportunities in all of Tanzania. From the Ngorongoro highlands and Gol Mountains in the west to Lake Natron in the east, this region has an unbelievable amount of variation.
Some of the best wildlife areas in East Africa are located in the Arash and Piyaya community lands and are used as destination points for up-market, exclusive safari camps. The remote landscape, vast plains, and friendly Maasai provide the ideal setting for safaris. Here one really feels alone in the African wilderness.
Tourists enjoying a walk on Lake Natron
Lake Natron is a large, yet shallow, Rift Valley soda lake home to the greatest gathering of lesser flamingos in East Africa and designated as an International Wetlands Conservation Site (RAMSAR). The Rift escarpment is located just west of the lake and is joined by a steady eastward slope littered with medium sized lava rocks and tall grass which allows the landscape to gently slide into the salt flats of Lake Natron. Tourists can camp or lodge adjacent to the lake, tour a series of waterfalls making their way down western escarpment and into the lake, as well as visit traditional Maasai bomas to observe what life is like in the region.
Neighboring Lake Natron to the south and east is Mt. Ol Doniyo Lengai, the only active volcano in Tanzania and considered the house of God to Maasai in the area – meet a tour guide. A very popular adventure, the volcano climb can be completed from its western route in one day.
Natural Resources:
Mountains around Piyaya
The Great Rift Valley is responsible for the diverse array of life in all of eastern Africa. The volcanoes of the Rift have produced the soil which supports the last greatest concentration of wildlife on the planet. And rising as much as 4,000 feet above the valley floor the volcanic highlands are able to catch rain and moisture coming in from the coast. This water percolates down the highland aquifers and gurgles out at the base of the Western escarpment to provide water for humans and animals. Scattered about the valley floor are lakes at different altitudes which create environments that support a wide range of plant species. Neighboring the Ngorongoro highlands to the north lay the Gol Mountains. These ancient hills funnel hundreds of thousands wildebeest into tight passes on their way north, following the life-giving rains.
Read about our Community Tourism Project in these communities >
