The Dorobo tribal group, which includes the cattle herding and hunter gatherer Maasai tribe, reside in the forests of the Rift Valley in Kenya and Tanzania and are even today pursuing a hunter gatherer lifestyle quite apart from the mainstream. They hunt in groups and often they follow lions and other predators when the latter are doing their hunting. They then descend on the predators when they have made a kill and scare them off and steal the kill. In the clip below there are only three Maasai hunters against fifteen hungry lions who are gorging on a wildebeest. Yet the men confidently make their way towards the lions and the latter fearing that these three are probably going to be followed by more gradually run away! The men then quickly cut out a leg portion and move away and the lions come back to eat the rest of the carcass.
The Maasai are happy living their simple contingent lives in this way far from our complicated world in which we are certainly not as happy as they are. Some critics have questioned the authenticity of the film and are saying that it may have been edited together from different shots though I doubt whether the BBC would resort to such misreporting. There is a higher level criticism regarding the non-tribal romanticising of tribals. The Maasai intellectuals themselves say that the Maasai are so used to hunting the lions and sometimes even killing them armed only with a spear as part of a rite of passage into manhood that this is no great feat for them. In recent times campaigns have been conducted to wean the Maasai off killing of lions and they are being paid not to do so. Nevertheless the basic fact that a substantial populatioin of the Maasai continue to live by hunting in this modern age merits respect from us.
The Maasai are happy living their simple contingent lives in this way far from our complicated world in which we are certainly not as happy as they are. Some critics have questioned the authenticity of the film and are saying that it may have been edited together from different shots though I doubt whether the BBC would resort to such misreporting. There is a higher level criticism regarding the non-tribal romanticising of tribals. The Maasai intellectuals themselves say that the Maasai are so used to hunting the lions and sometimes even killing them armed only with a spear as part of a rite of passage into manhood that this is no great feat for them. In recent times campaigns have been conducted to wean the Maasai off killing of lions and they are being paid not to do so. Nevertheless the basic fact that a substantial populatioin of the Maasai continue to live by hunting in this modern age merits respect from us.
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