Herding cattle has been the main source of food and income for these nomads for decades. The droughts are killing off cattle and affecting the environment and livelihoods of the Massai people. The early hours of the morning are the busiest as people from far and wild arrive for the early morning milk market. For now they survive on their traditional diet of milk and blood, which they mix into a rich protein diet that has kept them going for centuries.

 

But the drought in Magadi is reaching radical levels never witnessed before, leaving little or no vegetation for the cattle to feed on.

 

“I remember when the grass was very tall, I could not be seen when taking a nap on the ground, and if a cow gave birth, the calf survived. But now, there is no grass, there is no water, no rain, and the drought is increasing. We are forced to take cows far away for pasture.”

 

Nowadays, the only way for these herders to survive is to travel hundreds of kilometers out of their traditional grazing lands to seek new pastures for their cattle, or risk losing their only means of survival.

 

Massai herders try to escape the drought by streaming into the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, letting their cattle feed on the city’s garbage disposal sites, and anywhere else they can salvage a meal for their livestock.

 

“I came to Nairobi to look for grass for my cattle because there is no grass back home, and even here in the city outskirts, the grass is getting finished and we are now forced to take the cows into the middle of the city.”

 

According to environmental experts, climate change is rapidly changing sub-Saharan Africa.

 

“Africa is a continent least responsible for climate change, only 3 or 4 percent of the global emissions, yet it is probably the most vulnerable continent to the impacts of climate change. There are many reasons for this. One is that your, uh, climate is already extreme. You get extreme droughts, extreme floods, and climate change is like a hammer on top of that. It’s like an engine driving those extreme weather events to become ever more frequent, and ever more extreme.”

 

Years of drought and over-grazing combined with climate change has left a dreadful impact on the Massai community. The United Nations Climate Panel states that Africa could be hit hard by climate change in the coming century, with tens of millions facing food and water shortages.