Maasai Mara people fire
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.

How to Create Fire Without Matches or Lighters by Maasai People: A Photographic Essay

They’re fired. They’re hired. They are both!

Note: This article was originally published on Wednesday, May 27, 2015 at 1:30 in the morning and has been updated.


As part of our introduction and welcome into a village inhabited by people of the Maasai society in Kenya — which included a tour of their homes whose construction is partly composed of cow manure — we were treated to a demonstration of how to create fire without matches or lighters before embarking on a safari in Masai Mara National Reserve later that afternoon.

How to Create Fire Without Matches or Lighters by Maasai People: A Photographic Essay

View the photographs in this photographic essay almost as though they were still captures from a video so that you may speed through them quicker, as they are presented in chronological order. Even though a total of 52 photographs are included in this article, plenty more photographs were weeded out and did not “make the cut.

Please enjoy the photographs; and if you have any questions, please let me know and I will answer them as best as possible.

Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.

Final Boarding Call

Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.

The fire was lit.

Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.

All photographs ©2015 by Brian Cohen.

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