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Fort Ternan Museum

Regional Museums in Kericho

Fort Ternan: Alas! Kenyapithecus wickeri

Even with its popularity in multiple estimable scientific journals, there is little that separates Fort Ternan Pre-historic Site from its abutting rugged landscape, aside from the former ‘mud thatched hut’ and simple stone rondavels built on the site of a proposed museum. The site itself is easy to reach. There’s a simple road-signage about it, small, across a seldom used roadway more popular with paleontologists. Howbeit, it is one of the noteworthy pre-historic sites in Kenya. First excavated in 1961 by Dr Louis Leakey, Fort Ternan Prehistoric Site produced a partial maxilla (or lower jaw bone) of what’s considered to be a 14 million year old hominid dubbed as “Kenyapithecus wickeri” – one of the big Miocene Era finds excavated in Kenya. In Later, in 1967, Louis Leakey named a second species “Kenyapithecus africanus”, which he based on fragmentary teeth and jaw material found at Maboko Island in Lake Victoria, in Kisumu County, found about 98 kilometers from Fort Ternan Site.


The regional museums in Kenya offer a fascinating journey through the country’s history and heritage. They look back at ancient civilizations, cultures as they were centuries ago, cottage industries, colonial legacies, and archaeological finding – in specialization or as a combination – to give insights on the past and present.


outlook

Located in southwestern part of Kenya within the former Rift Valley Province, Kericho County, a healthful highland, has innumerable picture-postcard tea-farm vistas. Kericho County is famous for its vast tea plantations. It is all around a tea-riffic countryside clutching traditions and culture with one hand and a forward-looking yen on the other. It is home to large forests, historic sites and resorts, too.

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Generally speaking, Kericho County has favorable, temperate highland climate with moderate temperatures and reliable relief rainfall. The annual mean temperature ranges between 29oC and 10oC. The central part of the county, where tea is grown, receives the highest rainfall.