It is a great day for Kenyan marine archaeology.
In Malindi, three experts from Italian seabed arrived at Malindi: Sebastiano Tusa, the Superintendent of the Sea of Sicily, and his two collaborators Claudio Di Franco and Fabio Di Iorio.
The partnership between Kenya and Italy has been made possible thanks to the collaboration between the Italian Cultural Institute of Narobi and the most important marine archaeologist of Kenya, Caesar Bita, who is also director of the National Museum of Malindi.
"It is an honor to have Italian marine researchers here - said Bita a malindikenya. net - the history of their country and the wonders found in the Mediterranean is a guarantee of professionalism that can give Kenya the opportunity to grow in this sector, to know systems and develop techniques building on a field in which Italy excels in the world. We hope that this is only the beginning of a long and fruitful collaboration.
Professor Tusa is excited about this adventure on the Indian Ocean.
"Africa, with its millenary history of boat passages and routes from all over the world, can reveal great surprises to us researchers - explains the Sicilian superintendent - in these days we will dive off of Ngomeni, looking for a Portuguese sailing boat of' 500. In the area, ivory tusks and copper ingots were found, which would make one think of that very historical period. We hope that the Kenyan hypotheses are well founded, we could also find ourselves in front of a real wonder, as happened recently in Namibia, when a load of ivory tusks, gold and other treasures was brought to light".
Obviously this could be only the beginning, to probe a sea, the one off Malindi, which under its relatively low seabed, can reveal real surprises.
Tusa and her collaborators will stay a few days in Malindi and will participate on November 10 and 11 in two conferences organized by the Italian Cultural Institute and the National Museums of Kenya on the theme of sea and land archaeology in Kenya.