Kenya has started construction on sub-Saharan Africa’s first underwater museum.

As reported by the African Travel and Tourism Association, the National Museum of Kenya (NMK) has identified Ras Ngomeni in Kilifi as the home of a historical site where a Portuguese ship sank in the 16th century – making it the oldest shipwreck in the country.

The museum will be available for both tourism and research, and other shipwreck sites will be developed. According to Caesar Bita, NMK head of archaeology (coastal region), Mombasa has 22 shipwrecks, Malindi has eight, and Lamu has three. Bita anticipates that the underwater museum will benefit the tourism sector and explains that the project is in line with the blue-economy vision.

‘We are trying to develop projects that relate to the blue economy and that are cultural,’ he says.

‘Once the museum is complete, we will have tour guides who will be guiding people under the water. Each wreck will have a placard that tells its history.’

Completion is expected in 2022.

17 March 2020
Image: Unsplash