Kenya to soon have underwater marine museums

Kenya plans to set up a network of marine museums across the country to enhance tourism. Caesar Bita, Head of Underwater Archaeology at the National Museums of Kenya, told the media that the museums will be located offshore along the Indian Ocean coastline, major lakes and rivers.

Kenya’s underwater cultural heritage will be collected, preserved and displayed in the museums in order to boost the tourism sector,” Bita said on the sidelines of the Fifth World Congress of Geoversal Civilization, which runs from July 16 to 21, aims to promote cooperation among world civilizations.

The marine museums will also provide important information for researchers around the world. The idea of making the museum underwater is to reduce cost of preserving archaeological artifacts on land. Kenya’s marine artifacts and memorabilia always have greatest interest among local and foreign tourists.

China and the United States also take part in the museum project to document Kenya’s rich cultural heritage that is buried underwater.

As part of the project the archaeologists have discovered 30 wrecked ships that are hundreds of years old along the Indian Ocean that  belong to Portuguese, Arab, British and Chinese explorers.

Bita said Kenya’s local communities who live in the coastal areas also have  rich maritime culture and those that will also be displayed at the marine museums.