The Maasai tribe has been making beaded jewellery for centuries, and the tradition is still going strong. At a jewellery-making class inside Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve, let’s learn why that matters.
For the Maasai, jewellery is much more than decorative; it denotes cultural information, like age and social status, and commemorates significant life events. The Maasai’s handiwork has taken on even more significance as a study published last summer found that Maasai women could significantly raise their living standards by participating in tourism-related business activities. Today, throughout Kenya and Tanzania, many enterprising Maasai women have set up workshops teaching their intricate beading techniques to curious tourists from around the globe.
Each Piece of Jewellery Tells a Story About the Wearer
Jewellery class takes place inside the delicate ecosystem of Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve, one of Africa’s richest wildlife regions and named for the tribe that lives there. After an exhilarating morning tracking the largest population of lions in the country, as well as muddy hippos and dusty crocodiles baking in the sun, head to the Masai Mara camp, where seven Maasai warriors in crimson tunics encircled with silver chains of beads warmly welcomed you. Chanting in unison, they performed a traditional dance called an adumu.
LEARNING THE TRADITIONS
After touring one of the manyattas—a traditional oblong-shaped Maasai hut fashioned from mud, cattle dung, woven saplings and leleshwa sticks—settle in for the jewellery workshop. Get excited to learn the art and technique of a beading practice passed down from generation to generation. Among the Maasai, beads tend to be brightly coloured, often in blue, yellow and red shades.
Continuing the Tradition Helps Maasai Women Prosper
The history of colorful beadwork didn’t start with the glass seed beads we see the Maasai people wearing, says Dorothy Mashipei, CEO of the Ushanga Kenya Initiative, an organization dedicated to creating beadwork-related jobs for pastoralist women. For hundreds of years, these beautiful ornaments were made from grass, sticks, clay and seeds, and used to adorn the necks, wrists, ankles and even hair.
Faced with thousands of colorful miniature beads—all with hidden meaning—, deciding where to start was daunting. The beads were too tiny to pick up with fingers. You will learn how to use a short piece of wire to pluck the bead and add it to the string.
CHANGING LIVES
According to Mashipei, many Maasai women benefit from beading initiatives. She mentions a woman named Naayare Noonkipa from Masai Mara, who started beading 20 years ago to sustain her family. “She’s able to send all of her children to school and has moved from a manyatta to a modern brick house,” says Mashipei. She also launched a tour company that earns her a decent income, and she’s been able to provide a comfortable life for her family.
Beading workshops are funding kids’ education
WHAT TO KNOW IF YOU GO
Ask me to help you book a class with reputable organizations in Kenya and Tanzania. I’ll find you experiences that are immersive and greatly support the community. Visitors can experience the Maasai jewellery class inside Masai Mara National Reserve on Abercrombie & Kent’s Safari in Style luxury small group journey, which offers one-of-a-kind insider access to make your beadwork truly come to life.
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