Building Manyattas with the Maasai

One Horizon is a non-profit organisation that aims to arm local women with the education and life skills they need to make a sustainable income and support their families. Urban Adventures is working in partnership with One Horizon to bring you this very special tour, offering you the unique opportunity to spend a day with the Maasai community. Your entire tour fee is donated to One Horizon, who will use it to purchase building materials for the tribe. A fascinating day out that also supports the locals? Sign us up please! 

Your local guide will pick you up from your hotel bright and early for a scenic, hour-long journey to our destination outside the city. Along the way, we’ll see traditional tribesmen, herding their cattle through the streets of Nairobi and in the hills around the city and we’ll pass by Nairobi National Park, which is home to a who’s who of African animals — lions, giraffes, zebras and rhinos to name a few. 

We will arrive in the Maasai homelands in the hills around Kiserian, a settlement in the Rift Valley Province. Your guide will make introductions between yourself and the elder Maasai women, who will be supervising the day’s events. You will also get to meet the women whose home you will be helping to build. Over a cup of delicious Kenyan tea they will share with you the story of their life and talk about what it’s like to live in a modern day tribe.   

Once we’re all acquainted, it’s time to get stuck into your project for the day: building a manyatta! Firstly, you will be shown how to replicate the intricate weave that is required. Then you will be shown how to build the walls and ceiling of a mud hut. These instructions are very special as you will bear witness to the transfer of traditional home-making skills and wisdom, imparted by the elder Maasai to a younger generation of Maasai homemakers. 

After a couple of hours, we’re sure you will have built up quite an appetite, so we’ll stop for a hearty lunch of local ugali, which is like a cornmeal porridge, served with fresh vegetables, water and fruit. And best of all, you will eat with your hosts, giving you more time to get to know them and find out more about their way of life and how it might compare to your own. 

The afternoon continues with the building of the manyattas, punctuated with traditional songs and dances performed by the community. You will have the unique opportunity of watching some of the dances that are often only performed at special Maasai events such as births and marriages. 

It is worth noting that a home like this can take up to 3 weeks to build, due to the need to wait for the materials to properly dry out but with your help this time can be reduced significantly. So you my not finish the job while you are here but you can pat yourself on the back for helping to fast track homes that help to keep Maasai families together. 

You will leave your new Maasai friends behind mid-afternoon after a productive and rewarding day. Along with your guide, you’ll make the journey back to your accommodation. Before you go, don’t forget to ask him or her for tips on what else to see, do and eat during your stay in Nairobi. 

• Tips and gratuities for your guide.