Adumu is the world famous traditional jumping dance performed by the iconic Maasai tribe of Tanzania and Kenya. Co-founder of Adumu Safaris, David, a proud Maasai from the village of Lengijave near Arusha, Tanzania, vividly recalls being a child, standing near the bonfire and watching the morani, or young warriors and protectors of the village, performing the adumu at special occasions like initiations, rites of passage, and weddings. David remembers the hypnotic song the morani would sing—the deep, guttural, droning base call and piercing tenor responses. Women and children would chime in, too, adding high-pitched layers to the polyrhythmic ensemble. The morani stood in a circle, bending at the knee and bouncing steadily to the downbeat of the chanting. One at a time, a moran would enter the circle and perform the dance, a flat-footed jump, feet into the air, repeated over and over. The dance was really a competition, David recalls, whereby the moran to jump highest received the greatest esteem and bragging rights for his display of strength and masculinity. Somehow the dance performed at night, when the morani seemed to reach the multitude of stars above, seemed the most impressive. Admiring the dance as a child, David would soon be initiated as a moran and perform the dance himself!
Named in the spirit of the uplifting dance, Adumu Impact is dedicated to uplifting Indigenous communities in East Africa.
At Adumu Impact, we believe that with access to training, jobs, and entrepreneurial opportunities, Maasai can be the primary beneficiaries of tourism occurring on their ancestral lands. This, in turn, gives Maasai more leverage to hold onto their homelands for sustainable livelihoods that benefit Indigenous people and wildlife. Our mission is to increase economic and cultural self-determination of host communities in East Africa, empowering them to systemically address broader challenges related to poverty and climate change.