Days in Africa

“Nadala, Nadala, come, come!!!!” shouted the Maasai kids, running towards me full of excitement. A few seconds later they were dragging me out of the boma, the circular thick thorn fence surrounding the mud hut village at the outskirts of Amboseli National Park. The cause of their enthusiasm was more than obvious: less than fifty meters away, among the cattle, three enormous elephants were quenching their thirst in the almost dry river.
More people were gathering outside the boma, but the elephants gave little notice, continuing to drink undisturbed. “What if they come closer?” I asked the Maasai man standing next to me. “Wait, wait” he replied with an enigmatic smile. Within only a few minutes, five morani appeared from the bush. I was already two months in the arid savannah, still, whenever I saw the slender figures of the young Maasai warriors I would get a chill down my back: Wrapped only in a red piece of cloth and decorated with colorful beaded jewels, they would hold spears in their hands but walk with a slow, carefree pace, to stop only when they were within a close yet safe distance from the three giants. As the warm breeze waved their long plaited hair, the elephants raised their heavy, wrinkled heads and curled their trunks towards the direction of the warriors. And then, as if they had obeyed an unspoken command, the animals turned around and vanished into a thick cloud of dust.
The whole incident seemed a mystery to me. What made the elephants flee just when the young warriors appeared? How can they discern them from the other Maasai? The answer was simpler than I could have imagined. It lay in the morani’s long hair; a feature of their warrior countenance, it is woven together with sheep wool, giving them a characteristic strong odor; a blend of sheep fat and roasted meat. The weak-eyed elephants can detect the presence of the young warriors solely through this unique smell. And that particular scent smells like trouble, even if the elephants had never encountered the warriors before. After all, the morani are like the king of the jungle: they would never harm an animal for no reason, but still they should provoke fear to claim their territory and gain their place in the savannah ecosystem.