Adventures in 2024: National Museum of Natural History

I’m a nerd. I love museums. When I travel to a new place, I always hope for the chance to visit a museum. It’s such a great way to see and learn so many things.

Luckily, my family feels the same. So for Oneal’s birthday last year, we went to the National Museum of Natural History, in the City of Manila.

It’s not our first visit, and I’m sure it won’t be our last. I really love how every visit shows us something new. I also really love the architecture of this building.

But one of the absolute best things about this particular trip was the fact that we met a real paleontologist.

We were looking around the lobby, because on a previous visit we’d seen replicas of dinosaur skulls on display. They were no longer there, so we decided to ask one of the staff if they’d been moved. We were so lucky, because the staff we met turned out to be a paleontologist. He seemed very amused that Lucas was so excited about the dinosaurs, and the museum in general. He explained that the skulls had been moved into storage to make way for an ongoing exhibit.

But if we wanted to see them, he could show us!

I’m sure you can imagine how absolutely thrilled Lucas was.

He took us to the offices and the labs, where we saw the other specimens that were undergoing taxidermy and I don’t know what else. He showed us smaller fossils. He introduced us to the other paleontologists. And he brought us to the giant skulls that Lucas was so excited about.

I got his name and number, and he said if we visited again we should let him know, because maybe he could give Lucas a small fossil.

Honestly, that encounter was probably the best thing about this visit.

Whether or not you meet a paleontologist, the museum is gorgeous and very very well-designed. You could easily spend a whole day there, and feel like you haven’t really seen everything yet.

You get to see Lolong, apparently the largest crocodile ever measured.