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Through the use of world-class life sciences tools, capabilities and processes, Kenya will leapfrog older crime fighting techniques to enhance the capabilities to protect our biodiversity.

Using scientific procedures to examine, identify, and compare evidence from crime scenes, and to link the evidence with a suspect and a victim, which is specifically an animal or plant, it’s a sure way to enact progressive and stringent policies that would deter criminals as well as adopt modern technology that would assist the criminal justice system to effectively convict and grant appropriate sentences as prescribed in law to wildlife crime perpetrators.

Poaching is one of the most serious crimes investigated by wildlife forensics. The modern DNA-based molecular methods will aid in the fight against the poaching of endangered and protected species, and in the prevention of cruelty to animals. The laboratory will enable our continent to fight against poaching and offer services for all African countries especially those in the East and Central regions that are battling this new, dangerous and bloody trade.

Let’s all bridge the gap between conservation genetics and law enforcement.

Priority Species Viewer

Monday, June 9, 2014

Kenya Gets Ready for 2014 Smithsonian Folklife Festival


Empakasi Primary perform during this year's World Wildlife day celebrations
Kenya is a country of deeply rooted traditions and a vibrant cultural crossroads. Some of the oldest artifacts of human communities have been discovered in Kenya, making the East African country truly a cradle of humanity.

The Festival takes place for two weeks every summer overlapping the Fourth of July holiday. It is an educational presentation that features community-based cultural exemplars. Free to the public, like other Smithsonian museums, each Festival typically draws more than one million visitors. The 2014 Festival programs will feature China the Tradition and the Art of Living, and Kenya Mambo Poa!

Today, Kenya is dynamic nation that links its prehistoric past to new cultural expressions in a land of great environmental contrasts. Kenya’s diverse landscapes—stretching from snow-capped mountains to the Great Rift Valley, from deserts to lakes, vast savannahs, lush forests, and a sparkling coast—are reflected in the rich diversity of the Kenyan people and their traditions. Kenya will be participating in the 2014 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, in USA.

The Folklife Festival (25 June - 6 July, 2014) provides an opportunity for the world to experience Kenya's rich and diverse culture. The 2 weeks long event will showcase all facets of Kenya through a number of activities namely the Kenyan culture, people, products, sports and business opportunities. Festival visitors will be able to interact with exemplary craftspeople who work with everything from clay to soapstone to recycled materials, learn about important fossil discoveries by taking part in a model dig site from the Great Rift Valley, run with Kenya's Olympic athletes, and dance to both traditional and contemporary music from many regions of the country. This program is produced in partnership with the Government of Kenya Ministry of Sports, Culture and the Arts.
National Museum of Kenya (NMK) main entrance.

Initiated in 1967, the Festival has become a national and international model of a research-based presentation of contemporary living cultural traditions. Over the years, it has brought more than twenty-three thousand musicians, artists, performers, craftspeople, workers, cooks, storytellers, and others to Washington DC, to demonstrate the skills, knowledge, and aesthetics that embody the creative vitality of community-based traditions.


Festival visitors will be able to interact with exemplary craftspeople who work with everything from clay to soapstone to recycled materials, learn about important fossil discoveries by taking part in a model dig site from the Great Rift Valley, run with Kenya’s Olympic athletes, dance to both traditional and contemporary music from many regions of the country, discover how Kenyans live among and work with some of the most magnificent wildlife on the continent, and experience Kenyan life in the United States.

All of this will take place in venues and spaces that reflect the creative and dynamic experiences of the Kenyan people, whether they live in urban or rural, coastal or inland environments. Brand Kenya Board will also hold an investment conference and various forums with the Kenyans living in America to market Kenya as an investment destination.

Kenya Wildlife Service rangers on patrol in Amboseli National Park.
While Kenya is perhaps best known in the public’s mind for its wildlife, the 2014 Festival also will provide an opportunity for the public to learn directly from Kenyans about some of the realities of living and working with wildlife in East Africa. For example, as part of ongoing anti-poaching initiatives, rangers who work in the national parks protecting wildlife will be among the Kenyan participants telling their stories on the Festival grounds, and how they use technology in an effort to curb poaching.

Food and dance will comprise two of the expected highlights of the 2014 Festival program. Chapati (a flatbread similar to naan), ugali (a semi-hard flour cake), and nyama choma (roasted meats) are considered among the must-eats.

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