African Maasai ditch lion killing as proof of manhood, embrace running
Centuries before the world’s lion population was on the brink of extinction, young men of the Maasai tribe of Southern Kenya would try woo the hearts young Maasai girls by hunting and killing a lion. The age-old cultural tradition is a rite of passage into manhood and the only way to become a warrior. But last weekend, under of the snow-capped peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro, conservation took the place of tradition. Young members of the tribe competed in the Maasai Olympics, an event designed to end the killing of lions by giving young men an alternative way to earn status in their society.
The events at the third annual Maasai Olympics “are based on traditional skills, reported the Associated Press: “three running events of 200 meters, 800 meters and 5,000 meters; throwing a spear (javelin) for distance; throwing a club for accuracy; and the high jump, not in Olympic fashion but in Maasai warrior-style, a vertical jump from a standing position. Young Maasaai women also competed in 100 meter and 1,500 meter races.”
The young competitors, both men and women, compete for money, medals, student scholarships and a grant prize including a trip to participate in the New York Marathon. Tipape Lekatoo, an 18-year-old competitor, told Drazen Jorgic of Reuters: “If I win, I will spend all the prize money to pay for my university education.”
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Lekatoo, who wants to study tourism management in Nairobi, is not alone in his disapproval of lion killing. David Rudisha, a Maasai runner, Olypmic gold medalist and world-record holder, told the AP: “I am patron of the Maasai Olympics to demonstrate the killing lions is no longer the way … We Maasai have a future as great runners. We must run — not kill the king of beasts — to earn our manhood and to win our brides in future.”
According to the AP, Kenya’s Lion population dropped from 250,000 four decades ago to only 35,000.
In 2008, a group of Masaai elders showed up at conservationist Tom Hill’s ranch, as Reuters reported. They told Hill they would like “to stop lion hunting as part of the culture.”
“That was a stunning thing to hear,” Hill told Reuters. ‘That was never even said out loud before.'”
Hill and the elders brainstormed ideas, Reuters reports. “They said, ‘Don’t most boys compete for girlfriends in the world through sports? … That was the beginning of the Maasai Olympics.’ ”
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