Lost Nomads

Grazing in Keyna

Deep in the heart of Amboseli National Park, on the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, men and women literally don’t have enough shit. As their herds have perished in the drought they can no longer build and maintain their dung huts or build their dung fueled fires for cooking.  According to the Masai, God – or Enkai – made them the custodians of the world’s cattle. But Ole Ntimama says changing climate has made this job harder than ever before. Maasai have sought to survive on smaller herds like goats and sheep but even that has become challenging in the excessively arid climate. Droughts are longer and deeper than they have historically been.Without much snowfall to add mass and brighten the glacier surface, ablation (melting) resumed in 2017 at a rate similar to the dry season; this is not normal! Kilimanjaro has lost much of its glacial snowpack, Wildlife is perishing as are tribal cultures like the Maasai. Photo by Daisy Carlson  dw.com