Anthropologist and conservationist Dr Richard Leakey is planning to establish a new museum in Kenya dedicated to the story of humankind to revolutionize travel to Kenyain after Covid-19 pandemic.  

The planned museum will cost approximately Sh1 billion and is christened ‘Ngaren: The Museum of Humankind,’ is set to be built in Turkana in the Rift Valley, a region synonymous with human origins.

The project will be the culmination of Dr Leakey’s life’s work – whose fossil discoveries have helped reveal how humans evolved and cement Kenya has the cradle of mankind.  

The Ngaren museum will be the first of its kind and the conservationist expects it to offer education to local and foreign visitors while also promoting ‘social interaction and stimulation of all senses.’  

Visitors are also set to explore human origin and evolution from a scientific perspective, including natural processes and sudden events that led to survival of Homo sapiens as the only human species alive today.  

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The Great Rift Valley is one of Kenya’s top tourism destinations and is famous for its breathtaking natural scenery and iconic wildlife, including the world’s greatest concentration of flamingos in Lake Nakuru.   

It is also the location of some of the most important paleo-anthropological discoveries and the Leakey family discovered hominin remains and have helped uncover mysteries of human evolution in East Africa.  

The commissioned iconic and state-of-the-art museum will be erected on a piece of land donated by the 75-year-old conservationist and his wife, Maeve and was drawn by Daniel Libeskind.’ 

“Ngaren represents a celebration of the beginning of all humanity; of life and its amazing biodiversity. It is dedicated to educating humankind on our shared past, and tells the story of our common ancestry, our epic journey of evolution,” Leakey explained.  

The masterplan is being developed together with Naturalis Biodiversity Center Museum and Research and will have the only all-digital Planetarium and real-size African dinosaurs in the whole continent.