10 Unforgettable Museums and Sites to Visit in Kenya

The National Museums of Kenya (NMK) is a multi-disciplinary institution whose role is to collect, preserve, study, document and present Kenya’s past and present cultural and natural heritage. This is for the purposes of enhancing knowledge, appreciation, respect and sustainable utilization of these resources for the benefit of Kenya and the world, for now and posterity. 

Built in 1929, Nairobi National Museum is the flagship museum of NMK, housing celebrated collections of Kenya’s history, nature, culture and contemporary art.

Built in 1913, Nairobi Gallery was the Old PC’s office building, fondly referred to as ‘Hatches, Matches and Dispatches’ because of the births, marriages and deaths that were recorded here. Today, the building is a national monument, serves as a museum with temporary art exhibitions, and houses the Murumbi African Heritage Collection. The gallery was gazetted as a national monument on 13th April 1995.

The Karen Blixen Museum was once the centrepiece of a farm at the foot of the Ngong Hills, owned by Danish author Karen Blixen and her Swedish husband, Baron Bror von Blixen Fincke. Located 10 km from the city centre, the museum belongs to a different time period in the history of Kenya. The National Museums of Kenya took over management of the house in 1985 and it was officially opened as a museum in 1986.

Located along Langata road, 15 minutes drive from Nairobi city center, is Uhuru Gardens, Kenya’s largest Memorial Park. 'Uhuru' is a swahili word meaning freedom. The gardens were officially declared a National Monument in 1966 because of their historical importance. Within the gardens are a Mugumo (fig) tree and two monuments commemorating Kenya’s independence.

Located within Nakuru town, Hyrax Hill Museum tells the story of the lifestyle of seasonal settlements of prehistoric people from at least 3,000 years ago. The Museum is a former farmhouse, ceded to the museum in 1965 by the Late Mr. A. Selfe. Hyrx Hill was gazetted as an archaeological site on 13th April 1995.

Kariandusi lies on the eastern side of the Rift Valley, about 120km north-northwest of Nairobi, and about 2 km to the east side of Lake Elementaita. The site was amongst the first Lower Paleolithic sites discovered in East Africa. There was enough geological evidence found here to show that, in the past, large lakes, sometimes reaching levels hundreds of meters higher than the Present Lake Nakuru and Elementaita, occupied this basin. Kariandusi was gazetted as an archaeological site in the year 1954.

Nyeri Museum is a national monument which was once used as a 'Native law court'. It was built in 1924 and started functioning in 1925. Its main objective was to deal with customary law cases, previously dealt with by clan elders in the villages. As these cases increased, one courtroom could not handle the volume and thus another hall was built. The cases were divided among the two courts, with the first court dealing with civil cases like pregnancy and debtor cases, and the second one dealing with criminal cases like theft and murder. Nyeri museum was gazetted as a national property on 9th March 2001. 

Located along Magadi road, an hour’s drive and 70kms away from Nairobi, Olorgesailie pre-historic site is world renowned as the “factory of stone tools”, and has the largest number in the world. The prominence and accumulation of human tools represents actual camping places of early men, and evidence that human species had a tropical origin. The site is in a lake basin that existed about 100,000 to 200,000 years ago. Olorgesailie has excellently preserved biological and cultural evidence about the evolution of man. Orlogesailie was gazetted as an archaeological site on 12th June 1970.

Thimlich Ohinga literally refers to a “frightening dense forest” in Dholuo language, a Nilotic group who occupy the region. The stone structure enclosure has walls ranging from 1.0 to 4.2 meters in height, which were built of loose stones and blocks without any dressing or mortar. 

Hidden away in the up-market suburb of Karen is the 5km long Oloolua Nature Trail, an oasis of tranquility for city residents looking to escape the city's hustle and bustle.