Dalmas Tiampati
Reviving Pastoral Traditions
With his "Maasai Center for Regenerative Pastoralism", founded in 2015, Dalmas is pioneering Holistic Pasture Management in Kenya.
He practiced traditional rites as a young Maasai in Kenya. After a local rural primary school, he completed Bachelors and Masters Degrees at Moi University. During the seven years working at a public university, he felt a loss of identity and a deep longing for his old home and life.
Consequently, he quit his job and returned to his community to raise grass-fed cattle in the traditional herding system as a Maasai Herder. With 127 cows and a bank loan in his pocket, he set to work.
But after several consecutive dry years, the ultimate disaster struck: the drought became so severe that everything changed. The waterholes, rivers and wells dried up and the animals - the Maasai's main source of food - began to die. His community lost near to 90% of their livestock, and Dalmas looked for solutions to help his people protect themselves from future droughts, a consequence of climate change.
He founded a non-profit organization called "Ildalalekutuk Maasai Action for Development", which seeks partners with the goal of creating a free, independent and prosperous Maasai society. During his research, he came across Allan Savory's TED Talk. A subsequent intense mutual exchange led him to the possibilities of using "Holistically Planned Grazing Management" to transform devastated land into sprouting grasslands.
In REGENERATE's Video, Dalmas Tiampati describes how in the years since his organization was founded, he has fought against increasing individualization in agriculture - working to help people develop a communal mindset, a communal attitude. In his view, his commitment is bringing the people of Kenya back to their original, ancestral identity. It not only helps the environment, but also his people, the Maasai, encouraging them to perceive their land as a communal resource for all.
