Maasai lion hunters

Soit Ayai kopjes, Piyaya. ‘The Magic Hour’, when golden morning light slants across the plain, painting everything it touches in rich hues; long shadows at crazy angles.

There was good rain some days ago, and the plain is greengreengreen, and covered with peacefully grazing animals as far as the eye can see. It has been like this for the last few days: every time you think you have seen every single wildebeest on the planet, you come over a rise and there is another huge plain, with another 100,000 animals…

A party of Maasai moran (warriors) is striding across the grassland. They look fabulous, as usual: red tunic; a rough leather belt on which is a red scabbard and simi; and a spear. They are visibly agitated by our presence. ‘No photos’, I tell my guests.

I greet them: ‘Entasopa!’ ‘Hepa!’ comes the reply.

We talk a while, about the usual things, and then I ask what they’re doing today. It turns out that they are searching for lion. They will then chase it until, terrified and enraged, it whirls and turns on its tormentors. Then they will spear it.

It is 2010, and yet there are still young Maasai men whose cultural roots run so deep that they are prepared to risk life and limb in this way in order to demonstrate their courage. They sure as hell get my vote.

Well, yes and no. Because the other reality about 2010 is that, throughout Maasailand and beyond, lions are in trouble. Outside the national parks, lions only cling on in small numbers, and as human population rises, so these small pockets will be wiped out too. As lion numbers go down, moran are forced to seek them out in areas where they still exist - like Piyaya. One of the reasons that they are still here is that the camp pays tens of thousands of dollars each year for the right to operate here, money which the community uses for education, health and other projects.

Which is why I radio back to camp to get a vehicle to come and watch them from a distance. We know, and they know, that lion hunting is illegal, so they will be unable to make a kill while we are there.

Not long after, we find a lion, so we sit with him, as an added degree of protection. After a while, he wanders off and disappears in a thicket.