‘Oh, Kitty! How nice it would be if we could only get through into Looking-glass House! I’m sure it’s got, oh! Such beautiful things in it! Let’s pretend there’s a way of getting through into it, somehow, Kitty. Let’s pretend the glass has got all soft like gauze, so that we can get through.
Why, it’s turning into a sort of mist now, I declare! It’ll be easy enough to get through—” She was up on the chimney-piece while she said this, though she hardly knew how she had got there. And certainly, the glass was beginning to melt away, just like a bright silvery mist.’
Guests at the Museum of Illusions, Nairobi, on January 24, 2025.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group
That’s from Through the Looking Glass , a popular children’s book by Lewis CarolI – a sequel to his Alice in Wonderland. I read it when I was very young. I think I was rather puzzled. I read it again when I was much older, and I understood it better. I thought about it a couple of weeks ago when we found a Looking-Glass House in Nairobi – the Museum of Illusions. It is within the Laxcon Court along Swaminarayan Road, which is off Parklands Road.
Andreas and Olive had decided to take our little grandson, Remy, along; they invited Lut and me to join them. Remembering the Hall of Mirrors that was set up every time the May Fair came to the market in East Anglia, where I was born – a maze of mirrors that distorted your body into bizarre shapes – I thought Remy might be upset by it. I was very wrong. He enjoyed it. Mind you, Olive didn’t let him see his Dad’s head served on a platter.
Before I go on telling you about the delights of the place, let me give you a few admin and background details. The Museum is open Mondays to Wednesdays, 10am to 8pm; Thursdays, 10am to 9pm; Fridays to Sundays, 10am to 10 pm. The prices are Sh1,600 for adults (residents and non-residents), Sh1,000 for children (ages 4–12), and Sh1,200 for students. There is a family package (2 adults + 2 children) at Sh4,200, while children under four enter for free.
It opened in January 2025, as one of a global chain of privately-owned museums. Then it joined over 50 locations across 25 countries spanning four continents. It was the first in East Africa and the third in Africa after Johannesburg and Cairo. It seems that wherever the Museum of Illusions has been set up, it has been successful.
Here in Nairobi, a couple of Sundays ago, we were surprised to see how many people were there – mainly young Kenyans, as families or as groups of friends. The Museum is on the ground floor, and our entry was nothing like the rabbit hole Alice slipped down or the looking glass she slid through. But, like her, we found ourselves in a wonderland. In numerous rooms, it has 60 exhibits designed to tease the senses and trick the mind.
Kiende Kathure (right) and Melissa Hinga at the 'Beuchet Chair' in the Museum of Illusions, Nairobi, On January 24,2025.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group
For the Moiré Patterns, if you stand in front of the sensor, waving your hand, patterns appear. These occur when identical patterns overlap. The construction is based on two spoked discs spinning in opposite direction. The three Spinning Discs create a hypnotising illusion. The Infinity Room was very popular. Multiple mirrors are installed all over the room, creating an illusion of infinite space. In the Swap Bodies Corridor, two people have to team up; they then see themselves with the body parts of the other person.
In the Ames Room, walking from one corner to the other, and while looking at the screen, you see yourself growing or shrinking – like Alice in her wonderland. There was one room that was out of bounds for me – a room with tilted floors, walls and ceiling. With your eyes open, it feels like your body is leaning and not the floor or walls. My legs are not as stable as they used to be. In the Clone Room, you look through your phone camera with 0.5 zoom to take a picture of your friend’s clones. One of the exhibits – the Head on a Platter – is perhaps rather gruesome but certainly fascinating. The illusion is that the subject’s head has been severed and offered on a platter. It’s the one of many photos that I have chosen to show with this article. I feel sure you will understand why we didn’t want Remy to see it.
On the purchase of tickets, it is possible to pay for them at the door. However, the Museum strongly advises that you should book and pay for tickets in advance through their website. One thing is that, like many places these days, the Museum operates on a cashless basis. In addition, the booking system works on a 20-minutes time slot interval from the time the Museum opens. This means that overcrowding can be avoided. It is likely that you will wish to spend about an hour there. And you can tour the Museum at your own pace, and no one is going to hassle you. Also, the place offers itself for corporate events, team building experiences or birthday parties.
In my time, I have enjoyed a number of illusionary experiences, such as being frightened on a ghost train as a little kid at a fairground, or being puzzled by how a magician can convince you that he has sawn a woman in half on stage. But, so far, nothing has matched the Museum of Illusions here in Nairobi.
To finish, let me tell you an illusionary joke. On the Titanic, a conjurer was extremely frustrated that, night after night, a parrot was ruining his performance. He would perch himself in the stage wings, and he kept calling out things like ‘It’s up his sleeve!’ and spoiling his performance.
Then the ship hit the iceberg and sank. The parrot and the conjurer found themselves on the same plank of wood, hoping to be rescued. The parrot kept quiet for a long time. Then he said, ‘I give up. How the hell did you do that?’
