A Kent museum has reopened with new Eastern African and natural history exhibitions.

The Powell-Cotton Museum, in Birchington-on-Sea, welcomed the public through its doors last weekend to celebrate the start of its 2025 season.

The museum, which was opened by hunter and explorer Percy Powell-Cotton in 1896 to house his personal collection of artefacts, has unveiled a new permanent exhibition exploring the culture of South Sudan, Kenya and Uganda.

The original display has been undergoing reconstruction for multiple years and, on Saturday, February 15, the newly interpreted collection was open for visitors to see jewellery, clothing and musical instruments from East Africa.

The exhibition covers themes such as adornment, ceremony and tradition with fascinating facts about the communities from which the items came.

The 2025 opening also revealed the museum’s reimagined Ethiopian collection.

Visitors can see religious artefacts from the country and learn information about the historical significance of the Orthodox religion in Ethiopia.

The museum has always had a large collection of natural history dioramas, including the 2,000-strong collection of African monkeys and apes – one of the largest in Europe – and the mammals of the Himalayas display, which is the oldest in the museum.

However, the recent reopening has now revealed a fresh interpretation of these natural exhibits.

The dioramas now include more information about the explorers who collected the artefacts and the scientists who have researched the animals and their habitats over the years.

This also means that visitors can find out more about the museum’s founder, Percy, who was born in Margate in 1866.

The explorer embarked on around 30 expeditions in his lifetime, including trips to Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya, during which he brought a large number of animal specimens back to England.

In the late 1800s, Percy opened a single-room exhibition in the gardens of Quex House, his family home, to showcase his collection.

The museum has been expanded over the past century and now includes eight galleries and artefacts from Percy’s daughters, Antoinette and Diana Powell-Cotton, who worked together as anthropologists from the 1930s to the 1970s.

Next month, the museum’s new garden kitchen will also be open and serving pizza, salad and drinks.

The Powell-Cotton Museum is open from Friday to Sunday, 11am to 4pm, until Friday, October 31. It costs £5 for adults and £4 for children, no booking required.

The new exhibitions are included in a standard admission ticket.