Plastic Maasai

Zanzibar, an island with a long history and a rich cultural mix. When you approach touristic places, hotels or the beach, you notice the huge number of male Maasai, serving as security staff in hotels or just being beach boys, selling carvings, paintings, gems or their body.

But most of them aren't real Maasai or grew up on Zanzibar. Young men, mostly coming from mainland Tanzania, dressed up as Maasai to meet the expectations tourists from Europe have, when they come to the African continent. False expectations, created by books and movies that paint a wrong picture of Africa and male africans, especially regarding the Maasai tribe.

This ongoing series documents these young men.