None The Nature Conservancy in Arizona Press Releases Search All Press Releases Tamera Skrovan Phone: (602) 322-6996 E-Mail: tskrovan@tnc.org

Maasai Warriors Visit Southern Arizona

Tucson, Arizona— Warriors and cowboys may not seem to have a lot in common, but their similarities brought them together for a second time this past April.  This time it was on the cowboy’s turf in the Southern Arizona desert and the topic was global grassland conservation. 

A group of five Maasai warriors was reciprocating a visit they had received by ranchers with the Douglas, Arizona-based Malpai Borderlands Group (MBG) in the fall of 2002.  These two seemingly different groups had a lot to share with one another about ways to further their united goal of living off the land in a gentle way.  

The Nature Conservancy works closely with MBG.  The group of ranchers and local residents, with the cooperation of scientists, government agencies and conservation organizations like the Conservancy, is working to preserve open space, biological communities, and traditional livelihoods in an area encompassing 800,000 acres in southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico and across the international border with Mexico.  The area is continuous open space, ranging from desert grasslands in the valleys to pine-oak woodlands in the mountains.

Living in the savannas of southern Kenya and in neighboring northern Tanzania, the Maasai face similar challenges to the MBG of living in a border community.  Although the Arizona and New Mexico deserts are not as harsh as the savannas, they pose the same unique problems such as the threat of subdividing rangelands, government pressure to fence in their land and drive off wildlife, and a lack of water. 

During their visit, the Maasai were most impressed with how the MBG use conservation combined with science and technology to create a coexistence with open spaces and wildlife.  Peter Warren, program manager for the Conservancy’s grassland conservation program, notes that fencing is one of the biggest threats to wildlife.  Warren, who is also a member of the MBG, believes that fencing disrupts natural migration.

On a tour of the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum, the Maasai were full of questions and seemed to blend right in with their western wear of hats and button-down shirts.  Joseph Munge, a Maasai warrior, acknowledged that his “first goal is conservation and people.  There is a big gap in technology between the MBG and Maasai.  We have no natural resource plan aside from tradition.”

The two groups may do things differently, but Charles Curtin who is science advisor for MBG admits that the Maasai warriors “know how to be really efficient.”  The Maasai may not rely on a lot of science or technology like MBG, but both groups certainly care a great deal about their environments and how to be true to them.

The Maasai – a tribe of more than 500,000 in Kenya and more than 800,000 in Tanzania – have used traditional ways to raise cattle on the open range for generations. The tribe now hopes to combine these ancient ways with modern knowledge in order to reconcile livestock and wildlife management as successfully as the Malpai Borderlands Group has learned to do in Arizona.