Nairobi National Museum

Apart from being a melting pot for East African history, the Nairobi National Museum is a crash course on Kenya's past, writes Adewole Ajao

After a three-year renovation that started in 2008, the long closure has definitely moved the 82-year-old Nairobi National Museum from a modest societal collection to a world-class facility - a reality that makes the 1,500 KS (around $14) entry fee less painful. Like most tourist centres in the city, there is a separate fee for citizens and foreigners who throng its numerous tourist centres.

Sequestered within the verdant and picturesque Museum Hill in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, the museum offers the best crash course on Kenyan and East African history for any tourist disposed to a two-hour tour of the spacious venue bursting with history, culture, nature and art. Much of the success of the museum can be attributed to its being able to intertwine all these for the pleasure of viewers.

Everything seems to thrive on size, as the gigantic stone dinosaur outside the revitalised premises is a teaser of the experience waiting within the museum. Also synonymous with the museum is the name, Sir Robert Coryndon, a one-time governor of Kenya and staunch supporter of the Uganda National History Society which sowed the seeds for the museum's 1930 opening.

In his honour, a bronze bust lies within the ground floor. It is, however, dwarfed by a display of stuffed animals in the Hall of Mammals - one of 12 sections in a resplendent ground floor adorned with encased displays. The aim of this collection of stuffed creatures from the various eras is to trace the development of mammals while focusing on the adaptations that have occurred over time.

The signage “Do you know you are just a mammal?” precedes stuffed lions, mammoths, giraffes and other notable life-size creatures that recreate the safari ambience. Due to the size of some of the exhibits, the exhibition point spills into the upper floor which houses the Cycles of Life section. Culture and mores rule in this upper chamber as innumerable artefacts trigger a visual trip into the man-made ornaments guiding East African tradition.
The display samples from just about every tribe, as it charts the journey from birth to adulthood and death. There is also space for reincarnation in the Kigango-a 3D head of wood and cowries placed on a grave. It is erected once the departed visits a family member in a dream.

Youth means vigour, bravery and beauty. In East Africa, it also attracts body scars (tribal marks), removal of teeth and piercing of earlobes, or other parts of the body to attract the opposite sex. These are carefully detailed next to a collection of drinking gourds for special occasions like the Ngukuri, Skukuri and Sotet.

Another eye-catching collection is the assortment of Kutwat, Oltribe and Kusana hats. The melange of hand-made items exudes the profundity of the tribes in forging everything they needed, including rules of engagement. Wastage was limited; sadly, modernity is eroding many of these widely-held beliefs.

Depending on where you stand concerning the Darwin theory of evolution, and the issues concerning man's relationship with primates, the Cradle of Humankind section brimming with replicas of early man might still have an effect on you. With Kenya playing its role in the discovery of some fossils of supposed ancestors of the human race, the aim of this open and encased collection of excavated skulls, bones and recreated replicas is to echo its status as one of the cradles of mankind. It also sets you thinking how far the race has evolved from through the ages.

Man's evolution has not been without its problems though. The quest for wealth heralded colonisation and the balkanisation of many African countries, including Kenya. The pros and cons of this era, and its arrival into the league of independent states, are catalogued in the History Ya Kenya area which is split into tales on pre-colonial, colonial and independent Kenya.

Historical events such as the building of the Kenya-Uganda Railway, land alienation and two World Wars that shaped the lives of people are featured via a visual trip that has pictures, paintings, guns and other items. The pick of the pack is a train replica on rails cutting through the section. This is small compared to what one can view at the Railway Museum though.

The Birds of East Africa Exhibition in the upstairs sections is a rarity that offers a lesson for even the keenest bird watcher. A prominent Kenyan bird resembling a cross between a flamingo and seagull is actually a vulture. It is not alone though; there are several stuffed species like kestrels, ostriches and falcons dotting the admirable collection of over a thousand birds of varying complexities. Their eggs have also been carefully placed next to them with other vital information.

Outside the interior are the snakes. A visit to these creatures which triggered man's ouster from the Garden of Eden is supposed to be the cherry on the cake of the museum's visit. There are also turtles, alligators and crocodiles within the enclosed setting overlooking a precipice. The Royal Ball Python, Egyptian Cobra and Puff Adder (world's most dangerous snake) are all in captivity here, while smaller and less-harmful variants are left to roam free among the turtles within a setting.

Room also exists for an aquarium filled with a variety of catfish, tilapia and eels paying no attention to eager tourists. Amidst their obliviousness, their interplay with nature is a welcome relief from the inert scenes within.