Africa my Africa,the opening words of the poem of David Diop the late Camerounian poet. That poem comes to mind now as I write this post on my return from the National museum
Africa my Africa
Africa of proud warriors in ancestral Savannahs
Africa of whom my grandmother sings. On the banks of the distant river**…**(Source from the internet)
My journey to this National Museum was on purpose. I seem to have caught the bug for visiting museums. Since I visited the Nigerian-History-Digital-Museum , I have been in search of more museums in Nigeria to visit. All in the quest to know more about my country and my African heritage. The museum building stands a bit weak and ancient looking,but I like the beautiful garden infront of it. There was a beautiful flag of Nigeria in the middle of the garden, flying very proudly just like the country itself. Like I wrote in my **Review **after my visit,our culture and background is very precious and priceless,it’s very good to know them. Thanks to the authorities who preserved them as well. The last museum visit was Digital, this time it’s an Ethnographic Museum . It’s located in port Harcourt garden city (popularly called) in River state of Nigeria. This South Eastern part of Nigeria is generally called the Niger delta. It derived it’s name from the river Niger that flows down as seen on the Nigerian map.
A little history of Niger Delta
The Niger Delta river is synonymous with life, nourishing spiritual sustenance,Identity, communication, wealth and prosperity. The water ways connect and also divide people. They serve as conduits and obstacles, repositoriesof riches and realms of danger. The ambivalence of these contrasting potentials can be seen in the traditional festivities, costumes, dances and work of art. Those who lived in the coastal salt water region survived mainly on hunting, fishing and trading with their inland neighbours. Those who lived in the fresh water region of the interior combined fishing and hunting with farming.
The Niger Delta “also known as the gesse that lays the golden eggs” is one of the most vibrant parts of Nigeria. The economy of the people like that of other parts of the country was mainly subsistent. Means of production was based on the use of traditional tools such as cutlass, hoe, fish traps, animal traps basket hand woven etc. The people have a profound belief in diesties and supernatural forces which define their complex social institutions and world view. In the Niger Delta, there is thriving mask and masquerade tradition that serves specific purpose of the various rituals, initiations, mobilisations, enforcement and entertainment purposes (Source from the museum)
On arrival at the museum, I got a tour guide as usual and he was a very knowledgeable and friendly one. He made the history and artefacts come alive. I mentioned in my Review later, that He was also kind enough to grant me permission for a few photo shots .Since I was the only one on the tour at that time of the day,the narration was more intense than normal. He also played one of the ancient musical instruments for me a Thumb piano it’s called. There were other very ancient artifacts I saw as well. Before that I’ll like to mention the history line of the Nigerian ancient art traditions as seen in the photo above.
- The first on the line is an ancient boat that was discovered in 1987 in yobe state (North of Nigeria) in a town called Dunfuna. As the history goes it was discovered by a herdsman in search of water for his cattle. He decided to dig around, in the course of digging he struck something thats seems too big to be excavated alone. At the end of the story, we have a canoe that had been in existence 6,000 BC and 2,000 AD. The oldest in Africa and the 3rd oldest in the world as at the time.
- The next is a Terra cotta which is a baked or fired clay. It’s the oldest Terra cotta head in the world. These are images used to immortalise the loved ones in the absence of cameras for photos.
- There is the Image of Sango the god of thunder. He is believed to be a very powerful and fierce king that commands thunder and even spits fire like a dragon. A carved Image to represent him.after he supposedly disappeared into the ground in Ile Ife.
There is another history of how some powerful African men are able to turn into crocodiles during battles and they over turn the canoes of their enemies.
I could go on and on about these history but maybe the half of it cannot be told. It is better experienced or you rather make a visit yourselves and get the feel of it. There are other artefacts that were on display at the museum, as seen in the photo above.
The Items on display is:
- The cowries used as medium of exchange for trading
- Manilla used as a medium of exchange and for beautification.
- Y shaped Iron currency
- The U shape manilla
- The coiled tobacco
- The beads here is said to be over 200 years old well preserved in the museum
- Spiral manilla for dressing important personalites on certain occasions and for medium exchange.
- Waist beads for dressing and medium of exchange
- Others include, the ancient fishing implements, the masquerade masks,the awkete traditional cloth,the local musical instruments etc.
Planning a visit to the museum
This is another place worth having on our bucket list;
Location
: The Museum is very easily located. You can go easily by a taxi or the public bus service in the city. The roads are quite good and it’s just a stone throw from the biggest mall in the city.
Accessibility
: I was quite amazed at how accessible the whole museum is. Right from the entrance and through the tour from room to room, they are ramps that can make wheelchair movement or even one on crutches get along very easily.
Entrance fees for a ticket : To gain access,you’ll need to pay a token of #400 naira (about $1 USD) and obtain a ticket. For children or pupils, it’s #200, for Teachers #300.
Rules and regulations : As is always the case for Museums, Photo shots
are not allowed except by special permission. Nevertheless, there is a very small part at the entrance where Shots are allowed, after which bags and phones and cameras are left at the reception desk before going on the tour with the guide.
Hours of service
: As indicated on the museum profile on the maps.
Food and drink
. As I mentioned earlier it’s close to the mall, so you can easily get to the mall for a nice treat after the tour. Nevertheless,there is a local food vendor close by, roasted plantain and yam and fish. It’s a delicacy as far as the Niger/Delta is concerned. So you might as well get a taste of it to have a complete tour of Rivers state
What more can I say,I enjoyed the visit to the museum and hope you’ll enjoy visiting the place through this post. My last museum post was emotional, this one is quite cultural and historical.
Cheers.
N:B All photos used in this post are used by special permission and therefore should not be taken for granted or used for other purposes.