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Hundreds of Maasai youths in Kenya gathered over the weekend to participate in what's been called the Maasai Olympics, a ceremony promoted by conservationists as an alternative rite of passage for young men in the community. The idea for this alternative ceremony came about in 2008, and has since been developed by members of the Maasai community. The games - which include spear throwing, athletics and standing high jump - were improvised as an alternative ritual of transition to manhood for Maasai boys, who traditionally were required to fight and kill a lion to prove their bravery and manhood. The event took place in the Kimana wildlife sanctuary, at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro. Daniel Ole Sambu is a Maasai who works for the community conservation NGO Big Life Foundation, which organised the Maasai Olympics. He told Newsday: "It was a huge turnout, the community leadership really decided to be present this time around, the warriors were in very high spirits, so it was a huge success, everybody was happy, and even the level of competition is becoming higher and higher." (Photo Credit: Big Life Foundation)