Aerial photograph of a traditional Maasai village bordering Tsavo National Park, Kenya. Photograph by Kelly Landen

A traditional Maasai village, referred to as a “boma”, is composed of a circular stockade of thorny branches, or “enkang”, and houses called “enkaji”, constructed from arched branches covered in several layers of a mixture of soil, urine and cow dung, which dries in the sun in a few hours and insulates the house. The interior space is divided by thin partitions forming cells. The main and central room is the fireplace which is used to cook food and to light and heat the whole enkaji at night. The smoke from the fireplace acts as an insect repellant. Each house has a small enclosure for the smallest livestock such as goats, calves and sheep, arranged in clusters around the central opening. The houses and stockades thus delimit a central circular opening known as “emboo”, where the main herd is kept at night to protect it from predators.

Maasai houses are almost exclusively built by women, who are considered their owners. They are designed to be built quickly and with relative ease, to suit the nomadic lifestyle of the Maasai, always in search of greener pastures.