Rahmat Wildlife Museum and Gallery

When you come to Medan, there is an interesting wildlife museum to visit. It is the 1st wild life museum in South East Asia. The gallery displays a stunning collection of animals and smaller creatures in different settings according to their habitat. The museum's name is Rahmat International Wildlife Museum & Gallery. The word ‘Rahmat’ is taken from the name of the founder – chairman of Indonesia Museum association. He is the first Indonesian to receive The International Conservation Award; The Big Five Grand Slam Award; Dangerous Games of Africa Award, World Hunting Award; and several other environmental awards at the national and international level.The museum was officially launched on May 1999. Mr. Rahmat Shah is very well known as animal lover, whose hobby is sport hunting - a dangerous hobby which requires endurance and a high expenditure for the travelling and game costs.

There are more than 1000 species you can see stored in rooms with very low temperature. The rooms are titled according to what animals are displayed in. In the “African Big Five” you can see the most wild, huge and dangerous animals – Elephant, White Rhino, Buffalo, Lion and Cheetah- . Other rooms are the “Cats of the World” where you can see various big cats from all over the world; the “Kingdom of birds”, the “Pheasants of the world”, the “Varieties Birds of Paradise”, the “Dry Aquarium”, the “Bear Room”, the “Mountain of sheep”, the “Night Safary”, the “Nature Area”and “African World”. Nature is brought to life in the most realistic and artistic environment.

As you wander in the gallery you will be treated to an instant safari where you will discover the beauty and diversity of the animal Kingdom. This gallery is dedicated to educating and motivating the youth and general public about the world’s wildlife and how important it is to conserve them. According to the leaflet I read, some of the animals in that museum are come from legal hunting with the concept of “conservation by utilization” practices worldwide for the prevention of extinction and increasing the wildlife population and its habitat. The rests are animal which died in zoos (deceased) ; donations and gift from friends ; and legally purchased from all over the world.

It’s been many times I took visitors there. The last visitor I took there is Danielle d’Lusierre, the doctoral fellow from California who stayed at my house for 1 week during her field survey in Medan last time. Entrance fee is Rp. 25,000 – equivalent with US$2.5. For the traveler on short visits to Medan, Rahmat Wildlife Museum & Gallery is a must-visit. This museum is poised to become the pride of Medan.