TRACKER 2009 KENYA MUSEUM SOCIETY

Transcription

1 TRACKER August 2009 KENYA MUSEUM SOCIETY P.O. Box Nairobi, Kenya. Tel: / (direct) Tel: /132/133/134 ext Mobile: Website:

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3 Editors Note TD. I am pleased to announce that FLY540 have kindly agreed to sponsor the KMS logo competition. The winner will receive 2 return tickets to anywhere on the FLY540 network within Kenya. The competition is open to all, not just KMS members so please encourage friends and colleagues to enter. I am sure you will agree this is a very exciting prize. Joy Adamsons book People of Kenya is selling well, so don t forget to pop into the museum bookshop to make your purchase. As usual many of activities which you can join on a regular basis are on page 2. If you are remotely interested in any of these activities do take the opportunity to go. As a amateur bird watcher myself I decided I would try the Wednesday morning walk and I can honestly say what a pleasure these mornings are. Both those who lead and those who attend are always willing to share their knowledge and experience (which is extremely extensive) with those of us who know little or nothing. It is a lovely way to spend a morning wandering around in Nairobi. With regard to the AGM, unfortunately we do not have a piece with the full details of what passed, but on page 13 you will find a complete list of the names of the new Council and their positions. Should you wish to read the minutes of the meeting please contact Catherine or Lucy at the KMS offices who will be able to help. To continue the theme of featuring a different museum outside of Nairobi each month, you will find information on Kabarnet Museum. Also a new ecomuseum has opened at Meru with the aid of a couple of Japanese volunteers. They are keen to encourage people to visit, so if you are up that way and take the opportunity I would be interested to read your views. Also the snake park is now open and on page 9 you will find a small item on it s history, I hope this will encourage you to visit. Contents Page 2 Activities Page 3 Kabarnet Museum Page 5 FLY540- KMS Logo Competition Page 6 KMS Council Members Page 7 Safaris Sep-Dec 2009 Page 8 Where KMS Funds go Page 9 The Snake Park Page 10 Kinna Ecomuseum Front Cover: Sembweja Mwanguwa Njoro Taveta by Joy Adamson from her book People of Kenya available in the KMS shop at Nairobi Museum 1

4 Morning Bird Walks Activities Every Wednesday morning at 8.45 These 3 to 3.5 hours walks are organised by Nature Kenya (formerly the East African Natural History Society). Participants meets at the upper part of the Museum car part off Kipande Road. If any members have books or binoculars they are no longer using please donate them to Nature Kenya. Cost:KShs.100/- p.p Free for KMS members For More Information contact: Tel: / office@naturekenya.org Ngong Road Forest Walks Morning Tree Walk Every last Monday and every second Saturday of each month. Walks start at These guided walks focus on trees and shrubs. They are offered by FONA (Friends of Nairobi Arboretum). Participants meet at the tree centre of FONA. We suggest a hat, a drink and any tree books. Cost: KShs.100/- p.p. Free for Nature Kenya and FONA Members For More Information contact: Tel: / office@naturekenya.org The Ngong Road Forest Sanctuary Trust Nature walks are held on the first and third Saturday of each month at 9.00 a.m. Meet at the stairs leading to the restaurant at the Race Course. For More Information Contact: Simon Ng ang a Tel : office@ngongforestsanctuary.com Sunday Bird Watch Outing Every third Sunday of each month. Meet in the upper part of the museum staff car park on Kipande Road at 9am. Bring binoculars, water and picnic lunch. For more info contact Tel: / or office@naturekenya.org Books Books Books! This year s Second Hand Book Sale will be held from September 25 th to 27 th, Would you like to donate your books to us? KMS would appreciate donations os used books, tapes and videos, childrens books and games, environmental magazines and dictionaries. Please drop them at the KMS offices we are open Mon-Fri 9am-5pm. All proceed benefit the National Museums of Kenya. Your donation will be greatly appreciated. 2

5 Kabarnet Museum The Kabarnet Museum was founded in Hon. Katana Ngala former Minister for Home Affairs, Nairobi Heritage and Sports, officially opened it in 5 th March, This colonial legacy was constructed in 1920 s to accommodate the district commissioners of colonial government. The museum was introduced to the region to integrate the history of the district during pre-colonial and postindependence period and also integrates the cultural identity of the people living in Baringo, which include the Turgen, Njemps and Pokot. The old District Commissioner s (D.C) residential house in Kabarnet town was meant for political history of the region and was proposed to be Hon. Daniel Arap Moi Museum (Hon. Daniel Arap Moi, the former president born in 1924, some 28km from Kabarnet). Later it was seen as paradoxical to exhibit Arap Moi s collections in a building that has no relation to him other than the fifty different District Commissioners who resided in it at different times. Alternatively, a rotunda gallery was constructed for him in the year 2000 (it is yet to develop his exhibition). Currently one of the galleries accommodates temporary exhibitions of HIV-AIDS materials. The gallery is named DESTINY because it reflects the fate and hope of people living with the virus. The Museum exhibits ethnographic objects in the main gallery (old house). Most of the objects are exhibited typologically (grouped by purpose other than geographical or cultural region) and reveal how the communities lived with their environment. The objects represent the three communities occupying the larger Baringo District. The ethnographic collection in the storage facility is 500 in number. The District Cultural Officer donated some of the objects in 1996, which are now kept in the museum storage. The Baringo District is quite significant in its prehistory as evidenced by several palaeontological sites such as Chesowanja, Kipsaraman and Tabarin. 3

6 Influenced by the archeological/paleontological work which as been undertaken in the region since 1980 by the Baringo paleontological Research Project (BPRP), the geological studies and analysis derived from fossilferious sedimentary rocks is said to have ranged in age from 5.5 million years to pleostocene. (This is according to Andrew Hill report that was submitted to Ministry of Education, Science and Technology). The Museum also exhibits on the evolution of humanity and currently, an exhibition on geology and palaeontology of Tugen Hills and Baringo Basin is being developed. A Reptile Park was established in The park exhibits great reptiles endemic in the region particularly Black mambas (Dendroaspis polylepsis), Forest cobras (Naja melanoleuca), Puff adders (Bitis arietans), Black necked spitting cobras (Naja nigrocollis) and Leopard tortoises (Tesduto pardalis). The Museum enjoy it s landscape along the sides of the escarpment of great Rift facing the fault line down the floor where the longest river Kerio passes through heading its waters towards the northern horns of Africa to Lake which was discovered by Rudolf (Lake Turkana). BY BEN PUSIA CURATOR. Travel Discount for KMS Members Egypt Air offers bargain flights throughout the year to Europe, USA and the Far East plus 5% fare discount for Members only 4

7 KMS Logo Competition In 2010, Kenya Museum Society will be celebrating its 40th year in existence. As such, the Society is having a Logo Competition and is open to everyone. Throughout the year, KMS will be organizing events and activities to commemorate the 40th Anniversary. Theme: Forty years of supporting the National Museums of Kenya (in 2010, NMK turns 100) Deadline: October 1 st 2009 Specifications: The design can express the theme clearly. Good for graphic and gift painting. Other than the final draft, it is preferable to provide both singlecolored and full-colored version. No names and any identifiable marks of the entrants are allowed to be shown on the front of the work submitted Prize: Two Fly540 return tickets to any destination within Kenya For rules and further information please contact the Catherine or Lucy at the KMS office. PIGA PICHA Piga Picha Exhibition will run from July 25th, 2009 for a year. Don t miss out this exciting portrait photographic exhibition right in the heart of the city. ExpatWomen.com ExpatWomen.com is a comprehensive, global website helping women living overseas. The site displays 1,000+ quality content pages, over 900 expat women blogs, 200+ readers stories, invaluable country resource pages, interviews with successful expat women, loads of motivational articles and an inspirational monthly newsletter. VOLUNTEER NEEDED The Children s Story Hour is a member benefit. We need a volunteer story teller to offer their morning on a Saturday in August/September. Books are provided. Please contact us with information on your availability. 5

8 KMS Council Chairperson Immediate past Chair & Evening Programs Coord. Vice Chairperson Hon. Treasurer Hon. Secretary Grants Coordinator Membership Coordinator Public Relations and Marketing Coordinator Weekend Outings Coordinator Day Outings Coordinator KMS Shop Coordinator Member at Large Member at Large NMK Representative Director, Development and Corporate Communications Society Coordinator Patricia Jentz Joanna mcwilliams Susan Linnee Peter Brice Marla Stone Saryoo Shah Jedida Oneko Kathy Vaughan Narinder Heyer Alex Oloo Adelina Egle Onofre Elizabeth Njoroge Friedel Liebe- Savage Connie N. Maina Catherine Nyakio Mukuha ADVERTISING RATE CARD FOR TRACKER MONTHLY NEWSLETTER SIZE BLACK AND WHITE MEMBERS NON MEMBERS Back page KSH 3,500 KSH 4,000 Inside full page KSH 2,500 KSH 3,000 Half page KSH 1,000 KSH 1,500 Quarter page KSH 700 KSH 800 COLOURED MEMBERS NON MEMBERS Back page KSH 9,000 KSH 9,500 Inside full page KSH 9,000 KSH 9,500 Half page KSH 5,000 KSH 5,500 Quarter page KSH 3,000 KSH 3,500 CLASSIFIED LISTINGS Up to 25 words KSH 225 KSH to 50 words KSH 450 KSH 500 6

9 Safaris Weekend Outings September to December 2009 Lake Victoria_- Western Kenya September 3-6 As the Narok road improves we can at last travel to Lake Victoria. The September outing is fairly early in the month in order to avoid the rains. We shall stay at safari village at Mbita on the Lake shore. Its an enchanting and peaceful place with makuti roofed cottages that are cool even in very hot weather. Programme Thursday 3 Sept: Drive via Narok to Mbita. Picnic lunch enroute. Friday 4 Sept: Day s boat ride to the islands of Mbasa, Tawawilli and perhaps Mfangamano. Late afternoon drive to Rusinga to visit the mausoleum of Tom Mboya. Saturday 5 sept: We explore the Gwasi Hills; visit the new museum in Homa Bay. If the road is good we may consider going to Ruma National park to see the rare Roan antelope. In the evenings we shall enjoy sundowners at Safari village watching the beautiful sunsets over the lake. Sunday 6 Sept: Drive back to Nairobi. Cost: 10,800 Ksh. p.p sharing Included: FB for 3 days, boat ride, guide fees. Not included: Lunch on 3 rd and 6 th,park entry to Ruma National park should we decide to visit it, transport and trips. October 17-20: To the Tana River Primate National Reserve. This small forested hosts two species of extremely rare and endangered monkeys the Tana River red Colobus and the Tana River crested Mangabey. November The Kilimanjaro safari.we shall enjoy views of Kilimanjaro from various points the Chyulu Hills, Loitokitok and Amboseli Park. December 26-2 January The Tana Delta and Malindi overnight in Garissa, visit a Giraffe sanctuary. At the Tana Delta we visit a private game sanctuary, take a 7 hour boat ride up the Tana River to see the largest hippo pods still in existence in Kenya.End with a short stay by the beach in Malindi, visit the mouth of the Sabaki River and take a boat ride into the mangrove swamps at Mida Creek. For any further information call me on or narinder_heyer@yahoo.co.uk 7

10 50 Years since the Discovery of Zinjanthropus A commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary and an expert discussion with international scientists on the significance of the find and the place of half a Century after Zinj- Paranthropus boisei in Context. Members of the public are invited to attend this workshop that is being presented jointly by The Turkana Basin Institute and the United States International University. Registration will be 200/- per person (students free) to cover cost of tea/coffee. A snack lunch is available at the USIU cafeteria. Registration opens at a.m First Session begins at a.m. There will be a total of six speakers with time for questions from the audience. The symposium will end by 5.00 pm. For further details pleas contact Pauline or Farida at Turkana Basin Institute. Tel : /122 Fax: pauline@turkanabasin.org or faridabana@swiftkenya.com Where KMS Funds go. I think that most of the members of the Kenya Museum Society are aware that the Society was established to raise funds for the Museum, but how many of us know where that money goes? To discover, I spent an afternoon looking at the grants files in the office. I had expected to find that most of the money went to funding research and new projects outside of the Museum budgets, however sometimes the need is for more ordinary projects to be taken on, such as the repairing of the toilets at the Karen Blixen museum. The Society has funded purchasing computers for research departments, paying for travel and training for some of the museum employees, such as a course in graphic design for museums, attending a national fund-raising convention and for researchers to attend different conferences or courses abroad. Also funded was the fencing of land surrounding Kenyatta House in Maralal to protect it against land grabbers, and the setting up of a rainwater harvesting project at the Kariandusi prehistoric site museum (Naivasha). Several educational projects have been partly funded by the Society, such as a Wetlands Exhibition and Workshop at Kitale Museum and a stone tools exhibit at Kariandusi, where schoolchildren could learn how to make and use stone tools. More recently, I m sure everyone has been impressed by our new bookshop in the renovated Nairobi Museum (designed by one of our members) and is aware of the ongoing work to rehabilitate the Louis Leakey Auditorium. As the world financial crunch deepens and its effect on Kenya grows, there will be an even greater need for KMS to raise funds for the NMK to protect Kenya s heritage and to educate its children. Jane Foreman 8

11 The Snake Park The Nairobi Snake Park was started in 1959 to meet a popular attraction and to provide a research facility on reptiles, their breeding habits, skin casting, food and reaction to climate change. It had been noted that such studies were difficult to be carried out in any other way. Live snakes were exhibited on experimental basis at the entrance of the Museum in 1958 and were a very popular attraction. When the popularity was noted, the plot of land in front of the Museum and down by the Nairobi River was acquired by the Museum Trustees for the development of Botanical gardens and exhibition of live snakes. This idea was developed further in 1959, when money was made available for a combined Snake Park and Snake study centre surrounded by a botanical garden and war memorial garden on one end. By the end of 1960, the Snake Park was almost completed using funds made available by the War Memorial Committee. The Snake Park was opened to the public in January It attracted a lot of interest from the public, researchers, conservationist and educators. It provided a popular amenity, as well as being most useful from a research point of view, for both reptiles and plants, since a part of the gardens was to be devoted to indigenous flora. Tortoises and lizards were introduced that following year (1962). The Snake Park also attracted a number of researchers who donated a diversity of specimens locally and internationally. Specimens were brought in from India, Madagascar, Europe, as well as USA and South America. Among the donations was the American alligator brought in 1967 and two crocodiles in Apart from being an attraction, the Snake Park provided refuge and home for abandoned and unwanted reptiles and it has continued to provide refuge to a number of abandoned, threatened, rescued and unwanted reptiles to date. The Snake Park has continued to attract visitors steadily over the years. The public in Nairobi over the years to date has continued to receive help in the removal of snakes from residential premises as well as advice on handling of reptiles especially snakes. Snake identification services are also provided. Visitors to the Snake Park get to enjoy the exhibits of reptiles, fish and succulent plants. Memberships are non-transferable. Photo ID is required to access membership benefits. * Does not apply to corporate members Travel Discount for KMS Members Egypt Air offers bargain flights throughout the year to Europe, USA and the Far East plus 5% fare discount for Members only. 9

12 Kinna Ecomuseum Meru In April 2009 an area 35kms north of Meru was designated the Kinna Ecomuseum. Unlike a traditional museum, exhibiting collections and materials relevant to the local area, the ecomuseum aims to include the local residents in helping, organising preserving and displaying their local natural and cultural resources within the community and its environs. The intention is to preserve the local culture and environment whilst also contributing to the development of community. The local people are the Borana. They are believed to have come to Kenya in the 1600s as part of the Oromo people of Ethiopia, who in turn had been pushed westward from the Horn of Africa. Their social structure is loosely based around familial clans. Traditionally pastoralists, the Kenyan Borana now herd predominately camels instead of cattle. There are a number of the Borana who have converted to Islam, but many are content to continue to practice traditional religious beliefs. Under the Gadaa system, the power to administer affairs of the tribe belongs to the people. Celebrating and symbolizing this age old system are the Gadamoji ceremonies held every 8 years. There are places of natural beauty and cultural significance in the area and it is advised that when visiting you take a registered guide from the Malka Bisanadi Cultural Village who will take you in your own vehicle and introduce you to the world of the Borana. This has been organized with the aid of the local communities, the Division officer and 2 Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteers and it is hoped that by encouraging this form of tourism the community will improve their relationship with the flora and fauna of their surroundings as well as improving their standard of living. For more details contact Mr. Ntalo Mamo or visit the website: kinna_ecomuseum_introduction.htm 10

13 Nature Fair Wool spinner Nature Fair Dancers at a Nature Fair Children actvities Sat 5th - Sun 6th September 9am-5pm Nairobi Museum A family fun weekend... Come experience nature!! Tel: /9957 or The East Africa Natural History Society 11

14 KMS MEMBERSHIP REGISTRATION FORM Please use BLOCK letters Nationality MR/Ms/Mrs/Dr/Family (Please circle) Family Name: First Name: Spouse: Names of children (under 18): Residential Area: Street: P.O.Box Code: / Tel:Home Office: Mobile: I am a NEW/RENEWING Member (please circle) I would like to recieve Tracker by /POST (please circle) For Office Use Only Family Name: Receipt No: Date Type of Membership: Nos: Amt.Paid: Cash / Cheque Cheque No: Bank: 12

15 Please note that KMS trips are for members only. Temporary membership for one month is also available at a cost of 500ksh. KMS cancellation policy is as follows: a full refund is given for cancellation 7 days prior to departure; 0% for cancellation notice of less than 24 hours, 50% for the days in between. 13

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