An Assessment of Maasai People-Water Relationships in a Changing Landscape: A Case Study of Former Kimana Group Ranch in the Amboseli Ecosystem, Southern Kenya

Abstract

Water is a centerpiece of environmental discourse and community livelihoods. This is more so in landscapes that are characterized by water scarcity. This study sought to investigate Maasai-water relationships by focusing on values and meanings of water in Maasai culture, the transformation of water relationships through time, sources of domestic water and their importance, and different ways of coping during shortages. The study was conducted through a series of elder interviews and talking circles in the former Kimana Group Ranch, Kajiado County. The data was analyzed using a descriptive coding technique to extract major themes and narratives. The results showed that water is a sacred artifact, a mediator of social relationships, and that water is a shaper/marker and creator of history. This study contributes to the increasing calls for community-driven conservation, which is anchored on the knowledge systems and ways of life of communities.

Keywords:

• Art and culture in environmental values
• community-based natural resource management
• indigenous knowledge
• Maasai
• water allocation and conservation

Note

Notes

1 Group Ranches are collectively owned lands with defined membership. This land tenure regime was instituted in Kenya in the 1960s. Since then several Group Ranches have been dissolved for a variety of reasons. Kimana Group Ranch is one of them.