Samburu Beadwork at Sarara
Where stories are woven between cultures
Passed from mother to daughter, Samburu beadwork carries stories of tradition, belonging, and a way of life kept alive through the hands of generations of women. At Sarara, joining a circle of Beading Mamas offers the chance to step into this intimate legacy of creativity, connection, and laughter. As women from different worlds exchange stories and share wisdom, a beautiful sense of kinship unfolds, revealing the joys and challenges that connect their lives across cultures and continents.
Beading with Samburu women has long been one of Sarara’s most cherished cultural experiences. Yet, as Charlotte Flach reveals in an intimate account for Country & Town House, calling it a beading activity only tells half the story.
“Our eyes meet and a slow smile spreads across her face, warm and conspiratorial. The Samburu woman sitting cross-legged just inches from me has stopped her beading and is listening intently as my words are translated back to her. A ripple of laughter, genuine and infectious, moves around the circle; a mixture of Samburu and English women.
“I’m at the Sarara Treehouses, perched high in the forest canopy, taking part in what can best be described as a cultural exchange. As we sit in a circle on the ground, the Samburu women weave anklets from beads in a multitude of bright colours that match their own intricate necklaces, bangles and earrings.
“We bond by swapping questions on our respective lives, topics ranging from food to our homes to our monogamous lifestyles compared to their polygamous ones. The Samburu women seem bemused to discover that the three English women in their 30s aren’t married and have no children, which prompts a round of infectious giggling. It is intimate and authentic – something I’m quickly discovering Sarara has perfected.”
The vibrant threads of Samburu heritage
Known as the “Butterfly People” for the vivid colours of their clothing and beadwork, the Samburu people of Northern Kenya have long used beads for far more than adornment. Intricate patterns and designs depict everything from age to wealth and social status, which means the wonderfully elaborate necklaces, bracelets, anklets, and earrings worn by Samburu women are not just beautiful but literally colour-coded with meaning.
Joining the Beading Mamas offers a closer glimpse into this living tradition. Sitting alongside women who have been practising their craft for years, you learn more about the meaning behind their jewellery before choosing colours and threading beads to make a piece of your own. But there’s no script for what happens once the beading begins – and as hands settle into a gentle rhythm, conversation begins to flow…
Talk soon turns to the things women everywhere talk about when given the time and space to share stories, moving between homes and families, relationships and motherhood, work and everyday life – with curiosity and recognition going both ways. Questions become more candid and, as Charlotte discovered, the differences between their lives can be as funny as they are fascinating.
Beyond the beadwork
For the Beading Mamas themselves, those bright strands of colour also tell another story. For more than a decade, women have been selling their beadwork to guests staying at Sarara’s ecolodges and camps, turning their traditional skills into a source of their own income.
Over time, The Sarara Foundation (TSF) has worked alongside the women to build on that opportunity, with dedicated training extending well beyond the craft itself.
Building the sustainability of their craft and businesses through financial training, the Beading Mamas are gaining the tools and knowledge to individually and collectively grow their enterprises, supported through training as well as the formation of local groups with constitutions.
From opening individual and group bank accounts to learning more about saving, shares and dividends, it’s all part of creating stronger foundations from which to grow their enterprises together. And this age-old craft is not only being preserved, but now also creating new opportunities for women, who keep learning from one another, supporting one another and shaping what comes next.
A shared language
With bright beads catching the light and hands working rhythmically together, stories weave back and forth in the way that friendships have always been formed. And by the time a bracelet or anklet is finished, something else has taken shape alongside it – a shared laugh has crossed the barriers of language, a question has opened the door to a more intimate story, and women who arrived as strangers have found themselves comparing experiences, giggling at their differences, and recognising pieces of themselves in each other.
The vividly coloured beadwork may travel home with you, but it’s the extraordinary exchanges around the circle that give it meaning – warm, personal, and deeply intuitive. A reminder, perhaps, that across cultures and continents, there are ways women have always understood one another that need very little translation.
Beading with the Mamas is one of many ways to connect with the Samburu community during a stay at Sarara.
You can join a circle of women at any of our ecolodges and camps in Namunyak Community Conservancy or at Sarara Wilderness in the Wider Samburu Ecosystem – and our team will gladly arrange it as part of your itinerary.