Priscilla Muthwa, Patricia Birkett, Juthika Baijoo and Ntombi Mkhize recently attended a Natural History Collections Workshop in Cape Town, organised by the South African Museum's Association (SAMA). The 5-day workshop aimed to provide us with the necessary theoretical and practical guides to help us better understand our daily tasks and functions.

The workshop was held at and facilitated by Iziko Museum and included lectures on access to collections, collection care, nomenclature, health and safety, ethics, risk management and documentation. We were shown how to prepare wet and dry specimens as well as how to database, label, document and maintain them once placed in the collection.

The highlight of the workshop was the tour of the whale skeleton collection. It was amazing being that close to a skeleton of an animal of that magnitude we could actually still smell the animal's body oil. Thank you to the heads of our department and our Director, Luthando Maphasa for giving us the opportunity to attend this workshop and develop our skills, and SAMA for providing us with bursaries and for the excellent organisation of the workshop.