Nature and Culture Experience, offers an authentic cultural tours that allow visitors to experience the local customs and traditions of Tanzania’s various ethnic groups, such as Maasai, Hadzabe and Datoga. The Cultural tours that we offer include a visit to a traditional Maasai Bomas, traditional villages, local markets and cultural centers. We include visits to the Maasai traditional bomas and local communities, in order to give our guests an opportunity to see firsthand the way of life in a typical African village. Visitors will be shown around the Maasai bomas, traditional houses that are built using woods, mud and cow’s dung with only a single entrance and visitors will be welcomed to enter into the huts where Maasai families live and learn about their way of living, culture, customs and beliefs. The Maasai live in a family compounds called bomas. A boma is a homestead headed by one male, consisting of traditional houses for each of his wives and their children. So a number of houses in one boma depend on a number of the wives a man has. Maasai are polygamous, and every Maasai woman builds her husband’s boma with the help of fellow wives and relatives.
Over 120 tribes of various ethnicities and cultural practices make up Tanzania, one of the most multicultural countries in the world. The most notable of all is the Maasai culture, which has been well recognized for the preservations of its lovely rituals for more than a century. The Maasai are regarded as the Africa’s most courageous tribe.
According to the Maasai wilderness conservation trust, the Maasai are one of the very few tribes whose customs, way of life, and folklore have been largely preserved. The Maasai require a lot of land, just like the wildlife with which they coexist. The Maasai are a pastoral tribe that, in contrast to many other African tribes, lives off herding cattle.
The Hadzabe
The Hadzabe (Wahadzabe in Swahili) is a native ethnic group that is found in Tanzania. They are hunter – gatherers who live around Lake Eyasi, located south of the Serengeti. Their land is full of mostly baobab fruit trees as well as other bush trees that provide for their livelihood. The Hadzabe, indigenous wisdom contains the belief that we are all related, including all living and inanimate beings. They grow no food, raise no livestock and they live without rules. The Hadzabe hunt for food using hand-made bows and arrows and forage for edible plants to survive. The Hadzabe diet consists mostly of plants, fruits, meat, fat and honey. The men tend to hunt pairs or small groups and have amazing bow and arrow skills, they hunt birds as well as small mammals such as antelopes, baboons, warthogs, etc. The women tend to forage in large groups for berries, tubers, greens and honey. They live a very primitive life, and have been rejecting every formality of modern development.
The Hadzabe, are a nomadic society of hunter-gatherers, known for their oral ‘click-tongue’ language. This tribe lives in small groups of approximately 20-30 members. Women are adorned with “ Hangweda” made of traditional pieces of skin, while the Hadzabe men are polygamists with a patriarchal social system.
The Datoga Tribe
The Datoga tribe are also known as “Wamang’ati’ in Swahili, they are agro-pastoral nomadic people, nilotic pastoralist that are found in Tanzania only. They are found in Manyara and Singida regions, they live near Mt. Hanang, Lake Eyasi and Lake Basotu. The Datoga people claim to be the Tanzania’s oldest tribe.
The Datoga are skilled blacksmiths, they make arrow tips and other objects that they barter with the Hadzabe in exchange of honey. They are also renowned for their blacksmith abilities, crafting jewelry and arrow heads out of scrap metal. The women tan goat skins to make clothing that they decorate with colorful beads.
The Datogas are animists and they practice witchcraft, they communicate with their ancestors through a warlock and carry out purification rites from everything they consider impure as well as primitive religious rituals. An immediately recognizable feature of the Datoga is a peculiar circular tattoo around their eyes, especially among women.
What can you learn when you visit the Maasai, Hadzabe and Datoga tribes?
- History, culture, traditions, customs, beliefs and general lifestyles.
- You can learn about boys’ circumcision ceremonies.
- Learn about engagement process and marriage ceremonies.
- Learn about how men and women dress and the meaning of their clothing colors.
- Learn about women and men responsibilities in the society.
- Learn about traditional doctors and midwives in the society.
- Learn about traditional herbal medicine.
- You can expect to join and participate in traditional dances and ceremonies.
- There is a chance to learn about some customary practices, such as fire making traditionally and spear-throwing competition.
- Training and exercise in arrow shooting and targeting.
- Learn about how women make traditional houses, using woods, mud and cow’s dung.
- What type of food they eat and how food is prepared.
- Learn about the art of women, like jewelry making, eg, necklaces, bracelets, earrings etc.
- Learn about bushmen and blacksmith lifestyles.
- You can learn about hunting techniques.
- You will be welcomed to participate in traditional dances, singing and there is a chance to get dressed up traditionally and take photos.
When you travel with Nature and Culture Experience, there is also a chance to visit and learn from other tribes that are found in Tanzania such as Chagga, Meru, Sukuma, Haya, Nyamwezi, Iraqw and Sonjo.