First underwater museum to be built in Kenya

In sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya to be precise, the first underwater museum in the region will be opened soon. It will be located on one of the wrecks in Ngomeni, a historic fishing village on the northern coast. The museum will, among other things, serve as an educational centre for underwater archaeology.

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“The Government of Kenya and the National Museum have already started preparing one of the wrecks located in Ngomeni to become an underwater museum in the near future, the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa,” – Athman Hussein Athman, representing the National Museum, said at a press conference.

Speaking further at the press conference about the details of the project, Athman said that similar sites have become major tourist attractions in many other countries and therefore in Kenya as well, it was considered a natural development. The whole project is expected to be supported by discoveries made on several newly located wrecks. He also pointed out that hitherto, issues related to diving and exploration of wrecks as part of tourism, have been handled inadequately and this needs to change.

Kenya and Egypt are so far the only countries in Africa with projects to explore and protect cultural heritage sites located underwater, according to the nation.co.ke website. Kenyan archaeologists have been exploring in the waters of the Indian Ocean in the area of the cities of Mombasa, Malindi and Lamu, among others. Now the main goal is to develop ways to protect and conserve the historic wrecks found in Kenya’s coastal waters.

The most valuable wreck mentioned by archaeologists from the National Museum is the Portuguese ship Santa Antonio from 1697, sunk by the Arabs of Fort Jesus in Oman. Other interesting vessels mentioned during the press conference are: Highland Lassie (1879), Sussex (1909) and Hamad (1909).

In Malindi, the latest discovery is a 14th century wreck discovered near the aforementioned village of Ngomeni. It is located 2 km from the coastline, at a depth of about 10 metres. The vessel was discovered in 2008.

*Picture shows underwater archaeologists from the National Museum of Kenya.

Source: nation.co.ke