MUSINGS - LOVE IN LION COUNTRY...

In July 2002, I embarked on an adventure to shoot an extraordinary film in the heart of the Kenyan Masai Mara. The film is a true love story set in lion territory. Natasha – a blond, blue eyed Canadian girl, 24, spent five years living with the Maasai tribe after falling in love with a Maasai warrior. She and Saalash are now married with three happy, talented children. At the time of the initial shoot, they had a baby girl called Acacia.

What struck me as unique about Natasha's choice to live the Maasai way is that this primitive tribe of simple peoples live off cows blood and milk in the middle of the bush where giraffes and zebra, hippos, lions and rhinos roam free. Far from the comforts of suburban Canada, their home was a hut made out of cow dung with the shrill of hyenas howling into the night. Children covered in flies; women toiling in the heat to collect water and firewood from several miles away; men shepherding their cattle in the precariously wild African plains...all this patterned the scene as I arrived to film Salaash's 'coming of man' ceremony and, more poignantly, the final ten days before the couple would relocate to Canada.

In a country as corrupt as a politicians promise, Natasha and Salaash faced the harsh reality of where to best raise their child and build a future? It had been a heart breaking decision for them and I was privileged to enter at this critical time - a time to capture their compelling love story set against the backdrop of a vastly different cultural heritage; religious devotion; rite of passage; community spirit; and, the cherished ingredients of real contentment that connect these two lovers.

When Natasha arrived in the Mara - a mellow Canadian who had already decided that her life purpose was to be a mom and raise lots of healthy kids - she had no idea that her future husband was going to look, smell and feel like an African bush man...The moment they met, they both describe feeling physically sick..."Love sickness" universally translates. Over time, they began to learn each other's language, share stories and connect in a deeply feeling-space of extraordinary love and commitment. Unlike some of the tabloid-tarnished stories I had heard over the years - "Western chick marries Maasai Warrior" - Natasha and Salaash were so obviously star crossed lovers. And indeed, to this day, they remain proud parents, doting intimates and best friends.

Visually the Maasai are one of the worlds most colorfully adorned tribes. At 9, their ear lobes are cut and stretched and they hang decorative beads from each dangling lobe. Around their necks, copious necklaces, hand made for specific ceremonies, display the particular rite of passage age bracket of the Maasai.

I arrived in the Mara and was immediately transported into another world. It was Salaash's 'coming of man' ceremony and the moment he would have to sacrifice his beloved cow. On day one I filmed half a dozen warriors make prayers to the sky, then pierce a spear straight into the cow's brain. The cow didn't seem to struggle. The warriors gently blocked the hole with special leaves and the cow was down and peaceful. They peeled away the skin around its neck to make a bowl and proceeded to drink the blood straight from its body – fresh and warm. Immediately, the stomach entrails were removed for the women who were celebrating in a nearby enclave of bush secrecy...They ate it raw. I was gifted a freshly cooked giant rib and shared my meal with four semi-naked teenage boys in cow skin skirts who happily fondled my hair.

Other highlights during my stay were experiencing the happy devotion of these peoples to their God “Engai’. They seem to live a far more 'grateful' life than we tend to in the West. They also know how to let their hair down and JUMP! - House of Pain, this is your music video! The other amusing ritual is consumption of sausage tree cider - even the Maasai have their village idiot and mud hut drunk! Finally, we visited a lively witch doctor who had predicted to Salaash as a boy that something very important and WHITE would enter his life and make him travel. At the time, it was felt this would be some kind of albino cow...Natasha's arrival on the scene years later was, of course, spookily accurate.

As Natasha, Salaash and baby Acacia prepared to leave their tribe and homeland, we captured the tears of these ‘people of the cattle’ who are living a humble life, completely oblivious to what is beyond the dusty plains. For most Maasai who have never left their village and seen even a safari lodge - let alone experienced a sky scraper, burger joint or freeway - they are happy to reside in a difficult and dangerous environment rather than face the rumored congestion, stress and hostility of the city...One dark night, a week before our arrival, a woman’s scream was heard for many miles. A leopard had run into her hut and carried away her eight year old daughter in its strong jaws. The girl's body was never found but two dogs, a cow, some sheep and a goat also faced the same fate. This is not fiction but reality in the Mara.

The Maasai live each day for its own sake. They warn one another from planning ahead because they say - ONLY GOD KNOWS what is coming in the future. In this way they're very present with life. Most of their conversation is casual gossip, usually relating to cows, which are their currency and livelihood. Their religion is based on seeing everything good that happens as a gift from ‘Engai’ – the black god – and everything bad as coming from the red god. Superstitious it may be, but few Maasai violently squabble and they're relatively peace loving and gentle peoples. I recall a road rage incident in London upon my return and how much I craved the Maasai vibe...

Natasha is a remarkable woman who showed enormous courage by following her heart and embracing a way of life that would be unthinkable to most westerners. Her life with Salaash is one of tremendous love. Since returning to Canada, they have had another two healthy children. Natasha now runs a successful attachment parenting group in Canada that helps teach women the Maasai way of raising children close to the mother. The couple are presently adopting a fourth child from Ethiopia. Salaash has been back to his homeland, accompanied by an 84 year old Diviner and Natasha's brother who helped him build a number of wells for Maasai villages.

BACKSTORY

It was while shooting a travel show for TV in Africa back in 1999 that my Spiritual Teacher Adi Da first appeared to me in a dream. Later, I stumbled on a black and white bird wing in the Mara and intuitively collected the feathers and kept them in my travel diary. Seven months later, I returned from Africa. A year later I would meditate in front of an alter with the birds wing placed to the side of Adi Da’s picture. During moments of bliss-stillness, I started feeling my Teacher draw my attention to the feathers and to Africa in meditation. I felt the necessity to get back in touch with the young Canadian girl whom I had met and to see how her life had unfolded in the bush...Around the same time Adi Da began to talk about Africa and how important it was that the tribal groups get back in touch with the spirit of their ancient religious heritage. I knew that somehow I had to make a film and get back out to the country where my Teacher first started instructing me in dreamtime.

© G3 15th July 2002