Nairobi National Museum

Since I had yet to visit the National Museum, Fabian decided to take me along this morning when he went to photograph some of the bees in their archive. The museum was only about twenty minutes from icipe. When we arrived we met a lady to take us through all the corridors to the archives of entomology. The building was old and a musty smell wafted through the air. If I had not been with other people I would have found the place kind of scary. The archives were all prepared for the photographs Fabian needed to take. Fabian wanted to take pictures of the bees common in Kakamega. The pictures will be used on a poster to help the locals identify common bees in the area and to assist them in identification in their upcoming pollination garden. Fabian arranged the camera he had just right. I was fascinated by the mechanism and process used. The camera was of high quality and special lighting was required to make sure no shadows appeared. As I waited for Fabian to finish up, I examined some unique looking bees. Despite the common idea that bees are black and yellow, these bees were all different colors. The walls of the room were lined with drawers and drawers of insects. All the identification must have taken someone a lifetime to complete.

Once Fabian was done, he needed to go and renew his Nature Kenya membership. I went with him. Of course the people in the office tried to convince me of joining. This would be of no benefit to me, leaving in a month. I don’t think they understood. Finally, we made it into the museum. The outside of the museum was very nice as well. The colonial influence of the British was prevalent in the architecture. Inside the museum we looked at everything from a bird collection to paintings by local artists to the history of Kenya. There was also an interesting exhibit on extinct pre-human species found in Kenya. I don’t think the artifacts on exhibit were originals, though. The painting exhibit had only paintings of Caucasian people, which I found interesting. I would have thought being in Kenya, people would paint pictures of themselves and not foreigners. Maybe this reflects the British colonial influence? The museum altogether was decently done for a developing country. Some of the signage was confusing and not as clean cut as someone would find in other museums around the world, but for a country that just began their national archives, it was good. After touring the museum we went into the gift shop. I tried to buy a candle, but the lady told me that the candle didn’t come with the holder. Why would they remove the candle when the candle was what I actually wanted? Or why would the candle even be on display if it wasn’t for sale? Needless to say, I did not end up buying the candle “holder”. 

Fabian and I ate lunch at the museum. I think menus probably shouldn’t exist in Kenya because restaurants never seem to have what they offer on their menu. I have learned to rank the food I would like before I order, so when the waiter comes back saying the food I ordered isn’t available I have a backup plan. Fries and vegetables was what I ended up with for lunch. When returning to icipe I was given the afternoon off.