Kilifi County’s Ngomeni area is poised to host sub-Saharan Africa’s first underwater museum, with significant strides already made in the initial research phase.
Over the past two weeks, archaeologists from the National Museums of Kenya (NMK) and collaborating partners have been investigating a shipwreck believed to have sunk in the Indian Ocean off Ngomeni’s shores approximately 500 years ago.
Dr. Caesar Bita, the head of coastal archaeology at the National Museums of Kenya (NMK), is leading the team in an effort to determine the shipwreck’s dimensions and to ascertain whether the vessel served commercial or military purposes.
However, the team is also seeking to uncover the circumstances that led to the ship’s sinking in 1524, with early findings suggesting a fire as charred timber fragments have been discovered among the wreckage.
Journalists were invited over the weekend to observe the archaeologists in action, witnessing their deep-sea dives and the retrieval of various historical artifacts from the shipwreck.
“This is a big and unique project in East African and also sub-Saharan Africa because no other country has taken keen interest in conserving cultures that are found in the sea and Kenya is very advanced in that field as she has experts who are able to research and conserve those cultures,” Dr. Bita told the scribes.
Dr. Bita, a prominent underwater archaeologist in East and Central Africa, said the biggest objective of the project is to open an underwater museum that will be the only one of its kind in the country, and which will enable NMK to develop a new tourism product in the country.
“We want to make Ngomeni a very unique tourist attraction site in our country, which will be added to what we call the Big Five. When tourists explore our national parks, beaches and monuments, they can also appreciate and enjoy the underwater heritage,” he said.
He said after the research, the National Museums of Kenya would build a replica of the shipwreck, possibly at Ras Ngomeni, so that those who will visit the site will not see a building but a replica of the original ship that will contain some of the items found underwater.
“This will be done while the original ship under the water is conserved so that visitors wishing to see it can venture into the seabed to see it, because if we remove the timber from under the water and bring them up, they will decay,” he said.
Mr. Hussein Athman Hussein, the Deputy NMK Director in charge of the Coast region echoed Dr. Bita’s sentiments, saying that NMK would build the museum on land but allow people who would wish to see the actual ship to diver to the site of the wreckage.
The shipwreck was discovered in 2007 by fishermen who reported to NMK that they had come across ancient items such as pots, Dr. Bita said adding that NMK partnered with the National Museums of China an conducted the initial research on the wreckage and discovered the ill-fated ship was from Portugal.
The scientists who ventured into the seabed emerged after staying underwater for between 30 minutes and one hour with tales of excitement about what they had found out, with some coming out with artifacts they collected from the wreckage.
They included Dr. Bita, Mr. Philippe Castro, an archaeologist from America, Ms. Susan Mtakai from the Kenya Coast Guard and Dr. Gary Philbrick, the main sponsor of the activity and also an underwater archaeologist.
Locals, led by Alphonce Dena expressed optimism that the museum would be a big tourist attraction and thanked the NMK and especially Dr. Bita for training 15 local youths on the use of gas cylinders in diving.
By Emmanuel Masha
