FAO 27/09/2021

Figure: Though livestock is their principal livelihood, the Maasai greatly benefit from extra tourism income. FAO helped the villages establish the Eramatare Community Development Initiative that ensures that tourism activities protect the values and traditions of the Maasai. ©FAO/Christabel Clark.

All seems at peace. Just the sound of bleating goats and clanging tin cooking pots ring out over the land as the sun sets between Tanzania’s Lake Natron and the mountain of Ol Doinyo Lengai, meaning ‘Mountain of God’ in the Maasai language. These two powerful symbols of nature make the village of Engaresero spectacularly unique.

Engaresero is situated in the plains of northern Tanzania. The Maasai pastoralists who have occupied the land for over two hundred years lead a semi-nomadic existence following a strict pattern of land rotation that ensures certain areas are left fallow for several months at a time. This sustainable pastoralism contributes to soil fertility and soil carbon, water regulation, pest and disease control, biodiversity conservation and fire management. The large healthy cows are testimony to the good grazing that is abundant throughout the year on this land.

The cattle that have adapted to the local climatic and ecological conditions are fundamental to the Maasai: “We are interconnected and inseparable,” said the Ward Councillor, Ibrahim Sakai, who describes how their cows hold more than just economic value. Cows are part of rituals and ceremonies, and their distinctive markings can quickly identify one Maasai clan from another.

See more: http://www.fao.org/fao-stories/article/en/c/1438361/