Know more about the Maasai

While the primary focus of this web site is the Campi ya Kanzi safari camp, we find that many people come to our web site for information about the Maasai. We are happy to help them, since a wider understanding of this fascinating tribe can only be beneficial. Therefore, we have added the following list of resources to aid researchers. The focus of this list is quality and variety, not quantity. We are not trying to list every single reference that can be found, just those that in our opinion - are likely to prove useful. Therefore, these references have been screened to provide a number of different perspectives. Some are from grade school students, some are college research papers, some are from advocacy groups, and some are best-selling books. All of them are interesting in their own way, and may prove useful to researchers on the Maasai people. Before you leave our site, you may want to review our essay about the Destiny of the Maasai and Challenges and Hopes.  Take a look at our Gallery for photos of local wildlife and Maasai people, and see how ecotourism at our safari camp benefits the environment and the Maasai. We hope that this will inspire you to come visit us some day!

Websites:

Title: Maasai Association
Comment: Ole Maimai is a brilliant Maasai, friend of Campi ya Kanzi. He has studied in the USA, we admire the work is doing in trying to inform others about the Maasai culture and protecting it.

Title: Survival, the movement for tribal people
Comment: Survival is an International Organization, advocating for the protection of tribal people.

Title: Maasai Environmental Resource Coalition
Comment: An advocacy group for the protection of Maasai land and culture.

Title: Art and Life in Africa
Comment: Offers a summary of information about the Maasai, and makes it easy to compare them to other ethnic groups of Africa. 

Title: Maasai Language Project
Comment: An interesting project about the Maa language, by Professor Doris Payne, University of Oregon.

Books:

Title: Moving the Maasai
Author: Lotte Hughes
Publisher, date, ISBN: St. Athony's, 2006, 9781403996619
Comment: A must to understand what happened to the Maasai in the last 100 years.

Title: Broken Spear
Author: Elizabeth L. Gilbert
Publisher, date, ISBN: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003, 0871138409
Comment: Great book, amazing photos, very informative. The only book to include copies of the Land treaties depriving the Maasai of their land.

Title: From Mukogodo To Maasai: Ethnicity And Cultural Change In Kenya
Author: Lee Cronk
Publisher, date, ISBN: Westview Press, 2004, 0812240942
Comment: Interesting book about how an ethnic group (Mukogodo) has been forced to be part of another group (Maasai), during colonial times.

Title: Once Intrepid Warriors
Author: Dorothy Hodgson
Publisher, date, ISBN: Indiana University Press, 2004, 0253214513
Comment: An interesting analysis of how Maasai have evolved and changed.

Title: Staying Maasai
Author: Katherine Homewood, Patti Kritjanson, Pippa Chenevix Trench
Publisher, date, ISBN: Springer, 2009, 0387874917
Comment: The livelihoods of the Maasai in Kenya and Tanzania, with a deep look at conservation of wildlife.

Title: Maasai
Author: Tepilit Ole Saitoti 
Publisher, date, ISBN: Abradale Press, 1990, 810980991
Comment: Gorgeous "coffee table" book, actually written by a Maasai.

Title: The Worlds of a Maasai Warrior: An Autobiography
Author: Tepilit Ole Saitoti 
Publisher, date, ISBN: University of California Press, 1988, 520063252 
Comment: Amazing details from the life of Tepilit Ole Saitoti, born and raised a Maasai warrior, who later attended school in Europe and graduated from a US university.

Title: Inkishu Myths and Legends of the Maasai
Author: Kioi Wa Mbugua 
Publisher, date, ISBN: Jacaranda Designs, 1995, 9966884971
Comment: Myths, legends, art and poetry of the Maasai.

Title: The Last of the Maasai 
Author: Mohamed Amin
Publisher, date, ISBN: Camerapix, 2000, 1874041326
Comment: Many beautiful photos; available in English, German and Swedish.

Title: Maasai (Heritage Library of African Peoples. East Africa)
Author: Tiyambe Zeleza 
Publisher, date, ISBN: Rosen Publishing Group, 2000
Comment: Illustrated book on the traditions and history of the Maasai.

Title: The Orphan Boy : A Maasai Story 
Author: Tololwa M. Mollel 
Publisher, date, ISBN: Clarion Books, 1995, 395720796
Comment: Children's book. The author re-tells a story from his childhood, illlustrated with very nice paintings.