This Kenyan news story reports on a Maasai warrior encampment hundreds of miles from their traditional lands. This is an encampment on the coast of Kenya aimed at tourists – a sort of living museum where the “residents” are the main attraction (it’s likely NOT an encampment sanctioned by the elders). I guess this is not a new idea. Many Maasai “villages” tourists visit around the Maasai Mara and Serengeti are not resided in by the Maasai that greet tourists there. This reminds me of a wonderful (and often cited) article called ‘Maasai on the Lawn.’ The article examines a tourist company that hired Maasai to sing and dance at their camp, as well as arranging for tours to visit a Maasai village where tour organizers told the Maasai to put away radios and watches in order to appear more “authentic.” HA! There are those Maasai who are now profiting (however little) by feeding off Western stereotypes of what “indigenous” Africans should be (or at least appear). Non-Maasai appear to be profiting off the image of the noble Maasai (most often male warriors) by selling curios on the side of the roads in Kenya and Tanzania, labelling them as the real-deal. Even corporations have gotten into the game. Here is telephone company in Tanzania poking fun of the Maasai’s perceived “backwardness” to help promote their products. 

By the way, First-Quarter Tourist Arrivals Rise 15% to 313,691 in Kenya.