Masai

Cattle

The homeland of Maasai Zebu is in southern Kenya and adjoining areas of northern Tanzania, particularly in Moshi, Upase and Usambara areas. All zebu cattle in Kenya, except the Boran and its derivatives, are referred to as Kenyan Zebu. They are believed to have descended from the recent introductions of zebu into Africa from Asia. The Maasai people are among the Nilo-Hamitic tribes that migrated during the 17th century into Kenya from the north and settled south of Lake Turkana. Because of the centuries old traditional practice of cattle raids, present-day cattle of the Maasai are very heterogeneous having some similarities with adjacent Kenyan Zebu breeds (Rege and Tawah, 1999). In Tanzania, the Maasai zebu are found distributed from northern to southern parts of the country. ref: agtr.ilri.org