Masha du Toit

I spent the morning at the Natural History Museum in town doing research for my new book.  It’s a strange place.  Part of it is brand spanking new: glossy displays with beautifully lit objects, enhanced by multi-media sound and video shows .  And part of it is a sort of time warp, with the stuffed animals crammed together into huge glass cases backed with hessian.  I was relieved because this is just what I needed for the scene that is supposed to play out here:

Also happy to see that there are no security cameras in this older area, and the locks on the display cases look very pick-able.   No, I dont intend to break into the museum, but one of my characters might need to!

Some of the older parts are lovely, though.  Particularly the bird displays and the dioramas.