Wednesday, May 30, 2012

    South African Museum


    I'm a museum kinda guy.  There is always something new to discover even if you have been to it so many times before.  My favorite museum to go to is the South African Museum in Cape Town.  Its the oldest museum in sub-Saharan Africa and was established in 1825 by Lord Charles Somerset.  It is both a research and educational institution and offers collections of natural history and anthropological objects that document all forms of life - living and extinct - from southern Africa.   Whats also nice about the museum is that fact that its located at the top of the Company Gardens (seen in the photo just behind the Delville Wood Memorial) so a visit can be combined with exploring the whole area.   

    One of the most popular and impressive parts of the museum is the whale well with it's life sized whale and whale skeletons. Its combined with the rest of the marine section which also showcases sharks and dolphins. 

    Other exhibits range from an extensive collection of mammals and birds, to an excellent collection of material cultural heritage of our indigenous populations going back to their earliest origin.  These include Stone Age tools, some over 120 000 years old, and rock painting.

    Chaos Boy's favorite part of the museum was the dinosaur and fossil section with these life sized skeletons being the centre of the exhibit.

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