Our Plants, Our Health
Kenya Museum Garden
As part of the recent renovations to Nairobi Museum, TICAH has spearheaded the design and development of a unique garden of medicinal plants indigenous to Kenya.
With financial support from African Fund for Endangered Wildlife (AFEW), TICAH and our partners have designed and planted the garden, which consists of 16 flowerbeds set in a beautiful spirited mosaic created by Kitengela Glass. There are currently over 100 plant species from 36 botanical families planted in the garden and we have an additional two beds that are planted less formally with a range of medicinal plants, designed to give us a sense of how these plants would grow in the wild. Our Living Traditions: Our Plants, Our Health, Our Heritage is situated on a prominent and visible site at the foot of the terraced entrance to the Museum, in full view as visitors enter the Museum or relax in either of its new restaurants.
Our garden team now includes TICAH, Sanctuaries (a private landscape design firm), the Botanical Garden of NMK, Kenya Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (KENRIK), the Africa Fund for Endangered Wildlife (AFEW), SAMTECH, Multiplant International Medicinal Conservation and PROMETRA (Promotion of Medical Traditions of Africa), an international organization of tradition healers based in Senegal with branches in 17 African countries, including Kenya and Uganda.
Our Living Traditions may be a first for national museum systems on the African continent. To our knowledge, there is no other national Museum housing both the artifacts describing the past and the plant life which links traditional knowledge to contemporary use. The diverse and extensive plant knowledge that still exists in Kenya is captured here in microcosm for all to enjoy - emphasizing cultivation, medicinal uses, and nutritional and ceremonial significance - all part of our multi-cultural heritage. Walking through the garden's walkways, Museum visitors are introduced to the natural pharmacy and food basket of Kenya.
We believe that drawing attention to our flora will contribute to its preservation and stimulate renewed interest in its value. To help make sure that this interest is enlivened, we intend to put in place an educational program that links traditional plant knowledge to ethno-botany, cooking, natural history, conservation, and agriculture. The greater Nairobi area has many willing experts who can be brought in as teachers and hosts, particularly for the thousands of school children who routinely visit the Museum. The NMK system also has a fascinating archive of historical research on Kenyan medicinal and food plants that we also hope to make more available as the program develops.