A Day in the Maasai Market

The Maasai tribe is one of the oldest tribes in the world, residing in parts of Tanzania and Kenya. They were formerly a nomadic tribe, but they have found permanent settlements over the years and become pastoralists.

Since 2019, we have been collaborating with the Maasai tribe, residing in the Losimingori village of Arusha, Tanzania, to build a community centre cum museum that serves the tribe as a place for conducting business, and get digital skills and catering the tourists. 

In December 2021, we conducted extensive on-ground research with the Maasai tribe and learned about their cultural tradition, lifestyle and wisdom. The community members invited us to visit the weekly market in Nanja village.

The Nanja Market is a bi-weekly market, run by the Maasai tribe living in the nearby areas.The market is home to products and services, ranging from general groceries, fresh fruits and vegetables, cattle instruments, clothes, jewellery and shoes.

The market is always busy, with people stocking up on their groceries, or trying out newer fares.  There are also souvenirs available for tourists, like calabash, a dried gourd used to store liquids, or shuka, a checkerboard patterned wraparound.

Zebidayo is a young Maasai who makes custom footwear and sells them at the market. He has been making this footwear since he was 20 years old. He shared, “This footwear not only helps in recycling old tyres but is also sustainable and can last up to 5 years.”

Zebidayo sells about 3 to 10 shoes a day. He creates custom footwear for every one of his customers. People have a choice to choose between a new or an old tyre as the base.

He wants to save money and open a shop which he will name “Maasai Shop”. His life lesson is “Don’t wait to get employed by someone, employ yourself”.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a dip seen in the market, especially as there were no tourists around.

Maya, a jewellery seller, shared that it became difficult as there was no one around to buy the jewellery. Slowly, with tourism returning to the country, people can see a change in the market.