Locals where oldest hominid skeleton discovered want 'Turkana Boy' to come home

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00In the heart of Kenya's most remote region, this monument marks the spot where a 1.6 million

00:07year old skeleton was found.

00:10Known as Turkana Boy, the original remains are locked away in Nairobi, much to the dismay

00:16of locals who are frustrated nothing is being done to bring the skeleton back.

00:22When they built this monument in 2019, they promised more infrastructure.

00:27Five years later, there are no paved roads, no hotels, nothing.

00:31There needs to be more investment because it's very important to us.

00:35Nariokotomi residents had hoped their village would become a tourist destination.

00:40But years later, locals like Kevin are still struggling to access basic services.

00:45We wish that the skeleton will come here so that it may help us.

00:51The ones that the skeleton was taken from are not getting any benefits.

00:55So I wish that that skeleton will be brought back in the museum to be located in this place

01:01and that's where things will be OK.

01:04In 2023, President William Ruto promised to invest almost 200,000 euros in Turkana.

01:11Local politicians hope this money will be used to transform the region into the archaeological

01:16hub they've long been promised.

01:19This is just a small kind of discoveries that were made by researchers and not by government itself.

01:27Now that government is involved and is going to put a lot of money into research to make

01:32sure a lot of discoveries have been made so that we have a lot of what Turkana Lake Basin

01:39holds for the world.

01:41A task force is expected to publish a report in March 2025 to identify the best ways of

01:47attracting visitors and economic growth to the region.

Category

Transcript

Recommended