The Kitale National Museum received over 50 000 local tourists in the 2017/2018 financial year.
Speaking to KNA, the Kitale National Museum Public Relations Officer (PRO), Kennedy Kimuna attributed the high numbers to the uniqueness and richness of artefacts in the museum.
He said the rich history of the museum was one of the reasons for the high numbers.
“The Kitale museum is renowned for being the first domestic museum opened in Kenya by Colonel Fredrick Stoneham,” he said.
The PRO said most of the local tourists were students from universities, secondary and primary schools and they reached 40, 000 in the last financial year.
He added that local tourists who were not students were more than 10 000 in the last financial year.
Kimuna attributed the high number of students to the museum for its being more of an educational centre than a recreational centre.
“Most of our clients are students, because our aim is to enrich them with knowledge of their history through nature and reading from the museum’s library,” he said.
He said that the museum consisted of items gathered from different tribes in Kenya such as the Luhya, Maasai, and the Turkana community.
“This museum has traditional weaponry, utensils and native musical instruments used by these tribes and they are well displayed in the museum’s gallery,” he said.
Kimuna said the museum was special as it consists of life exhibits, gallery rich of artefacts and homesteads that depict the traditional way of life of different communities.
He said the museum charges sh.50 for students, 100 shillings for local tourists and 500 shillings for foreign tourists.
By Miriam Gitau/Moses Festo
