“The lion was just a few metres from me. I just knew that I had to kill it immediately or risk being killed by its powerful paws and jaws. I didn’t have the luxury of time,” he says.
“When I was young, I would hear stories about morans who had killed lions and I could not wait for my turn.”
But when Samanya's time to kill a lion came, he was no longer excited, but scared.
He says he thought the elders had gone berserk when they informed him it was his turn to kill a lion to be a warrior.
He says when he saw the lion he at first felt dizzy and was about to faint but he suddenly gained courage.
“They were giving me back up and cheering me on. I had to kill a lion for me to join a cadre of a moran. I was scared but I had to kill a lion,” he says.
Armed with a spear, his knife and a rungu, Samanya approached the lone lion that was resting under a shade.
The lion was dosing off.
Aware of the presence of an intruder in his territory, the lion roared.
Samanya says he started shaking and sweating.
“I was to either kill the lion or the lion kill me,” he says.
Samanya says he looked in the lion’s eyes a few metres from him and knew he would kill it.
“My spear pierced through the lion’s head. It collapsed and I removed its skin and there and then, I was declared a moran. However, I had to kill another lion to affirm my new position,” he says.
After killing the lion, Samanya says, they would dance the night away, celebrating the achievements they had made.
Samanya says killing the two lions was not an easy task.
But times are changing and so are the cultural values as the Maasai are no longer killing the king of the jungle.
They have instead committed to protecting lions.
When the long-held tradition was done away with, elders sought another way to inculcate conservation in the community.
The Maasai Olympics now represent a history-changing shift from killing to conservation.
The idea was first hatched in 2008 by the Menye Layiok, or Maasai cultural fathers, to create an organised sports event based on traditional Maasai warrior skills to replace the long-held tradition of hunting lions as a mark of manhood, bravery and prestige.
Every two years, participating villages select teams through a series of tournaments leading to the finals across six categories. They include rungu and javelin throwing, high jump, and 200m, 800m and 5,000m races.
The inaugural games were held in 2012 and have been a biennial event ever since.
The fifth edition that was to be held in 2020 had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
On December 10, the fifth edition was held and graced by Kajiado Governor Joseph ole Lenku, Big Life Foundation chief operating officer Craig Millar and the 800-metre recorder holder David Rudisha, among others.
Big Life is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the conservation of East Africa’s wildlife and ecosystems through a holistic community-based collaborative approach.
It protects more than 1.6 million acres of wilderness in the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro ecosystem.
Since its inception, Big Life has expanded to employ hundreds of local Maasai rangers—with more than 30 permanent outposts and tent-based field units, 14 patrol vehicles, two tracker dogs, and two planes for aerial surveillance.
Millar says they approached the community to find out how best to conserve lions due to the myriad of challenges facing them.
“We were told point blank that we can’t afford to keep living with wildlife and our livestock gets killed,” he says.
Millar says the programme of predator compensation and other projects started in 2003.
“It did quite well until about 2008 and the lion population was rebounding together with other projects,” he says.
Globally, lions have lost 94 per cent of their range since the start of the 20th Century.
Today, there are estimated to be 23,000 lions left, fewer than elephants, rhinos or gorillas.
By 2007, the estimated lion population in Kenya stood at around 2,000.
Millar says law enforcement was also enhanced.
He says the predator compensation funds only mitigated the economic loss of livestock.
Millar says Maasai’s culture of killing lions gave them sleepless nights.
He says even though compensation was working, killing lions for cultural reasons had dealt a significant blow to the population of lions.
Millar says at one point, Menye Layiok approached the Big Life Foundation for a solution.
“We looked around and saw that the youth are engaged in sports and in Maasai land, we do not have as many sports as we would like,” Millar says.
The olympics has created a platform for the warriors to compete.
“Cultural killing of lions has decreased significantly,” Millar says.
Governor Lenku says the olympics have helped to spot talent among the morans.
“It has helped develop talent, protect wildlife and preserve our culture,” he says.
Lenku says the initiative has also enabled the community to improve their lives.
He says going forward, the county will avail some money to support the olympics.
Beginning August 2022, the four competing warrior villages of Eselengei, Kuku, Mbirikani, and Rombo have engaged in local and regional competitions, culminating in the recent event.
During the event, Mbirikani carried the day followed by Kuku, Rombo and Eselengei.
Mbirikani went home with a trophy and a breeding bull.
The winner of each event was given Sh25,000, and a medal, the second position took home Sh20,000 and a medal while the third position took Sh15,000 and a medal.
Women got an opportunity to sell their wares such as beads and food during the event.
National Geographic, the Disney Conservation Fund, Chester Zoo, Play for Nature, and Zoo Basel sponsored the Maasai Olympics.
