Kenya Maasai Olympics: Hundreds gather for lion hunt alternative

Maasai youths in Kenya have come together for a sports competition, created as an alternative to the group’s annual lion hunt – a traditional rite of passage.

Hundreds competed in various games in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, including spear throwing, athletics and high jump.

For generations, Maasai warriors were expected to fight and kill a lion as part of a ritual centred around their transition to manhood.

But after the number of large cats began plummeting in Africa, environmentalists and the group’s elders founded the so-called Maasai Olympics.