Maasai Lands: From World Heritage Icons to Sites of Land Theft and Displacement
Today
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While glossy images of the Maasai and their iconic lands often grace travel brochures, a starkly different reality of land theft and displacement unfolds behind the scenes. The Maasai are undoubtedly among the best-known Indigenous Peoples worldwide, and parts of their ancestral lands in Kenya and Tanzania – such as the Serengeti or the Ngorongoro Crater – are iconic landscapes and UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Yet, this idyllic facade conceals a much more troubling story of land theft, evictions, and violence. Despite the extensive efforts of governments, conservation organizations, and safari tourism providers to obscure these crimes, the Maasai remain determined to resist.
The Maasai (“people speaking the Maa language”) practice nomadic pastoralism, moving their herds seasonally across vast stretches of land in search of water and pasture. However, colonization and the establishment of game reserves and other Protected Areas have forcibly evicted numerous Maasai communities and severely restricted their access to their ancestral lands.
In Kenya’s Masai Mara, we met with several Maasai who shared their experiences of coexisting peacefully with wildlife, emphasizing that their cattle graze alongside zebras and other animals, which, in fact, often seek refuge near Maasai settlements to avoid predators. They proudly explained the evolving traditions, highlighting how young Maasai warriors now showcase their strength and earn prestige by performing their high-jumping Adumu dance, replacing the former practice of lion hunting as a rite of passage.
Currently, the Maasai in Tanzania are battling the government's renewed attempts to evict them from their land. Over 170,000 Maasai are at risk or have already been evicted to make way for trophy hunting, tourism, and wildlife conservation in Loliondo and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA).
Tanzanian authorities have suppressed resistance through raids, shootings, violent repression of protests, arbitrary arrests, and the confiscation of cattle. They have also cut essential health services, including those for children and pregnant women, and other public services such as schooling and access to drinking water. These actions are part of their efforts to coerce the Maasai into agreeing to so-called “voluntary relocations.”
Based on the principles of the fortress conservation model (an approach prioritizing strict protection of natural areas often at the expense of local communities), they claim that there are “too many” Maasai and cattle, asserting their responsibility for environmental destruction.
However, numerous studies attest to Indigenous Peoples’ superior skills in managing their lands and protecting the natural world. Research indicates that pastoralism does not degrade the environment; instead, it shapes and protects it, with traditional land management patterns allowing grasslands to regenerate.
Nevertheless, the Tanzanian government and Western conservationists collaborate to restrict the Maasai’s land rights in the name of wildlife conservation, while simultaneously transforming their lands into lucrative tourist destinations.
Pressure from international campaigns exposing these injustices has resulted in withheld aid and Tanzania establishing task forces to investigate land disputes. The struggle for Maasai rights requires ongoing attention.