Kenyan nomadic Maasai hunt medals instead of lions

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) – The Maasai in Kenya are now hunting medals and no longer lions in the famous biannual Maasai Olympics sporting games.

The games include running, javelin and club throwing, sprints and standing Maasai high jump.

According to the Maasai traditions in Kenya, killing a lion with a spear was an initiation ceremony for youthful Maasai men. The rite of passage is now outdated as the youths gather in the thousands to participate in their Olympics in Kimana, 125 miles from the capital Nairobi where their spears are used for javelin.

The nomadic pastoralist Maasai whose main lands are near wildlife parks and sanctuaries, also might kill or injure lions if they attack their livestock, which is their main mainstay.

The attacks by Maasai warriors have been cited as a threat to vulnerable lion populations in East Africa; thus, the Maasai Olympics was born as a project between Maasai elders and Big Life Foundation, a non-profit conservation organization focused on preserving the wildlife and habitats of the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro ecosystem of East Africa through community-based and collaborative strategies.

As a sign of manhood, strength, and prestige, the Maasai Olympics imitate traditional warrior skills rather than the initiation rite of killing lions.
Naipanoi Nashon, an elder from Kimana who is 78 years old, told Anadolu Agency that everyone "looks forward to the sports. They have changed our way of life for the better, during my time, many lions would be killed as a rite of passage for no reason. At times, they were a threat to us. In that case, it is either you or them."

Koinet Barmasai,58, a resident who always comes to watch the Olympics for his part, said that "we as Maasai have been living with the lions and Elephants for many years, many, especially the elders who took pride in lion hunting may not agree with a change of culture, but this is a good change."

Benson Leyian, CEO of Big Life Foundation, commented that" there was a risk that this culture would have wiped out lions in this landscape, which we could not let happen."

"The Maasai Olympics is about provoking discussion among the warrior generation, who are the future leaders in this ecosystem, that lion-killing is no longer culturally acceptable, and that conserving our environment is how to ensure a sustainable future for these warriors and their families," he added.

The winners from the Olympics received a prize of a bull and trophies.

According to the Africa Wildlife Foundation (AWF), the lion's population is steadily decreasing in the wild because of rising human populations, which has led to an increase in agriculture, villages, and roadways.

Lions are living closer to humans as their habitats dwindle. With less natural prey, they attack livestock. Herders retaliate by killing these large cats.