As I write this journal entry from the Maasai Mara Game Reserve in the heart of Maasailand in Kenya, an old Maasai woman sits before us. Our guide, Meitamei Olol Dapash, walks over, puts his arm around her and introduces our group to his mother. “She walked to our camp with my eldest brother a half-day across the savannah and forests of Loita to welcome all of you to our family.”

Gazing across the cosmos.

On several occasions we came upon huge herds of elephants, one a family of more than 40 individuals with babies just weeks old. We could see them approaching from the far horizon and drove ahead into their path. Spacing our three Land Rovers out to give them plenty of room, we turned the engines off and waited. This passive approach to game viewing, letting animals approach us rather than the other way around, made me feel less intrusive as they passed by at a comfortable distance – which for some confident males and playful teenagers was an arm’s length from the vehicle. We were close enough to look into their eyes and feel their cautious curiosity as they crossed the road.

Watching these large herds of elephants lumbering across the African wilderness, especially the elephants of Amboseli National Park, known for their very large tusks, is a timeless experience, like gazing across the cosmos tens of thousands of years ago when mastodon roamed the earth.

The “Little Five”

You really don’t experience the real Africa without getting out of the vehicles and going for walks in the bush. Every traveler should take a bit of African soil home on his or her sole – and soul! Typical tourists to Africa are herded around in vehicles through the parks and wildlife reserves hell-bent on seeing the “Big Five:” lion, buffalo, rhinoceros, elephant and leopard. However, Haroun Parsoi Kamoye, a Maasai from the Mara, prefers to show us what he calls the “Little Five,” creatures like the ant lion and dung beetle. Haroun sacrificed a black ant by dropping it into the small crater of an ant lion so we could watch the ferocious predator emerge to grab its prey, struggling but unable to climb out of the deadly sand pit.

Between two worlds

Maasai are a gifted race who can achieve much in their world and in the Western intellectual milieu when given resources, access to education and an equal opportunity to participate in political, economic and social affairs beyond the boundaries of their traditional pastoral life. The wildlife here is spectacular, but it’s the African people we come to know who are the most meaningful and memorable part of any safari.

We visited small villages and schools that are not on the tourist circuit, where traditional pastoral life reigns and the need for small-scale tourism support is greatest. Since the trip was organized through local MERC community leaders, we were warmly received with fanfare and gratitude. We visited one of highest rated Maasai primary schools in Kenya. We never expected such a profoundly dedicated and masterful head teacher. Charts and lists covered his walls documenting his five years of stellar achievements raising grade averages and the rate of higher education among his graduating students.

Primary school is now mandatory in Kenya so when the charts indicated a missing year of attendance for a few students, he explained that he had tracked down and “rescued” Maasai girls from their parents, girls taken out of school for a prearranged marriage. Other girls were pregnant, but this persistent teacher would return to the family the next year to be sure the students finished their schooling.

Living with wild animals

Local MERC leaders who introduced us to community challenges greeted us at each village – challenges such as living on marginal lands among wild animals that freely roam in and out of surrounding national parks. The Maasai have traditionally co-existed with wild animals since they don’t eat wild meat and therefore do not hunt. But a Maasai warrior, armed with a spear and club, is prepared and capable of protecting his herd of cattle or goats from predators, or his family from marauding elephants, so the wildlife respects the Maasai in most cases.

The village of Meshenani is just 100 yards from the entrance gate to Amboseli National Park where over a million dollars of park fees are collected each year. But the Maasai gain a measly 2% of the income. They use the park to graze their livestock and live just outside its borders, but they are not employed to work in the park, nor are they called upon by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to participate in park decisions that affect their community.

We met in the local school, a ramshackle two-room shed with just a few desks to discuss these community matters. Nearby the community well had collapsed several years ago leaving the population of 3,000 people to walk 20 kilometers (12 miles) to the nearest source of water. It was hot, dry and desolate. We were introduced to young children who were orphaned by wild animals that had killed their parents, and yet the community continued to respect and protect the wildlife that tourists came here to enjoy.

Clearly this village was living on the margin. One of the women was asked to speak on behalf of the “other gender” of this patriarchal society. She shared how much harder it was for women living in such marginal conditions because on top of their daily responsibilities of cooking, keeping the fire, bead working, taking care of children and affairs in the boma, here the women had to walk farther to collect water and gather firewood over land where lions, elephants and buffalo roam.

The hardship was obvious, and the community is bitter that it is ignored by the KWS. The people remained determined to improve their situation and were grateful to have our interest from outside. Through proceeds from the new eco-tourism program with Wildland Adventures, MERC has helped pay for the construction of the school building, and plans to upgrade the facility and materials as funds allow. But more than financial support, the fact that we had traveled 8,000 miles to visit their village, and that this Maasailand Safari program is expanding a worldwide network of citizens beyond their village, brought hope and excitement to the community.

The real value of money

We were so moved by Maasai stories of orphaned children, political disenfranchisement and marginal conditions, balanced by their determination to improve their situation, that we began to meet in the evening before dinner to discuss our individual observations and feelings. It was really an emotional investment that stirred the need to talk. Then one couple of the group made an offer that provoked a prolonged and open group discussion: If there were enough of us who would commit to raising $6,000 to repair the well at Meshenani, they would take a loan on their home equity line of credit and immediately wire the money to MERC as soon as they reached Seattle so the community could begin work rebuilding a new water supply without waiting for future funding.

After much discussion, we concluded that the value of $6,000 paled in consideration of what it would buy in Africa: clean water supply for a community of 3,000 people living in a dry, desolate land with no means of support from its own government or the tourism industry that uses its land and enjoys the wildlife it helps protect. The decision was made: Everyone was committed to fundraising when we got home.

In the end, everyone made a combined contribution of hundreds of dollars to local schools and projects, in addition to the $6,000 for the well. Much of our personal traveling budget was well spent on purchasing Maasai art and beaded jewelry from the villages we visited. It was real eco-tourism at work by making purchases at the village level directly from the producers. Because they knew we were coming in advance, family members invited their cousins from distant clans to display their goods. Money we spent was shared among the Maasai and reached as far as 100 kilometers (62 miles) to remote villages far removed from the tourism track.

Motivated by love

Participants on this trip must be willing to step in "cow patties" and enter cow dung homes of the Maasai. They must make an effort to learn cultural courtesies and a few words in Maa, the Maasai tongue, and to bear witness on their vacation to poverty and injustice. And yet, in spite of the hardships and inequity that Maasai face in these times, we encountered only traces of bitterness, overshadowed by hope, resiliency and a determination to create a future that protects their land, cattle and traditional way of life in co-existence with wildlife and nature.

We embarked on this trip motivated by love, with respect for the dignity of others and a reverence for nature that we understand is inextricably linked to ourselves. By taking the time away from game viewing and making the extra effort to visit remote villages, to listen and learn from our Maasai hosts, our trip inspired faith within both cultures that together we can help each other create a better world.

Jean-Michel Cousteau’s words at the turn of the millennium summarize our feelings at the end of our journey to Maasailand:

“What inspires us to act more responsibly is not the logic of preservation, but our capacity to make an emotional investment. With love comes understanding and the humility to realize that we are vulnerable yet strong. It gives us the strength to deal with our difficult past and the confidence to move into the great adventure of the future.”