Nashauna Drummond, Acting Lifestyle Coordinator

Left: Dancers in the Kalenjin Village. Right: Each wife has her own space in traditional polygamous African villages. Her own hut, kitchen and food storage. - photos by Nashauna Drummond

Africa. A continent of diversity and mystery with a very rich andeclectic history. Fossilised remains of the first humans who walked the Earth have been found there, confirming in the minds of many that this great continent is the birth place of all life and civilisation. Just as these fossils provide insight to mankind's earliest ancestors, so the Bomas of Kenya provide insight into early African traditions. I was privy to this history lesson on my recent trip to the 'Motherland'.

Traditional villages

The Bomas of Kenya, located about 20 minutes outside the capital Nairobi, is an enlightening journey into the past. A re-creation of 14 traditional African villages, show what the way of life was for many Africans.

The villages are hidden within a dense forest of giant pine trees. As you walk along the stone paved path that disappears into the woods, you are attracted by the faint, but steady beating of drums. This steady rhythm seems to intensify as you get closer, pulling you in.

Suddenly, the forest opens up and on the right is a re-created Somali village made of homes created with wattle. On the left was the Embu village made of wood. The huts that were arranged in a large circle were carefully labelled. There were huts for the first, second and third wives.