The bleating of cattle, squeaking doors of mud and wattle huts depicts the Maasai manyatta (farmstead/village). Women crouch beside brown cows, easing milk into cheap plastic cups while half-dressed children skip through the dirt. Watching life in the manyatta unfold is a like a tale only told in children books . The daily stream of tourist safari jeeps kicking up the dust on the all weather roads leading to Kenya’s nearby Masai Mara National Reserve brings the world to the land of the Maasai community. The Maasai are a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting northern, central and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. They are among the best known local populations internationally due to their residence near the many game parks of the African Great Lakes and their distinctive customs and dress. The Maasai are pastoralists and are famous for their fearsome reputation as warriors. They have adopted customs and practices from neighboring Cushitic-speaking groups, including the age set system of social organization, circumcision, and vocabulary terms. The Kenyan government has instituted programs to encourage the Maasai to abandon their traditional semi-nomadic lifestyle, but the people have continued their age-old customs. Many Maasai tribes throughout Tanzania and Kenya welcome visits to their villages to experience their culture, traditions and lifestyle, in return for a fee.