The deadly eyes of the unknown ancient killer, forever glazed in death stare blankly at the ones who would have become its prey, had it had life pulsating through its veins. The jaws that locked around many a helpless victim now lay locked in silence, snapping no more. The lifeless forms of the once majestic, once powerful, stand naked as dead white structures of mere bone. The Natural History Museum in Muscat is indeed a treasure trove, to those who love to witness the fallen grace of the mighty wild of not hundreds, nor thousands, but millions of years ago.
The museum, found in the Ministry of Heritage & Culture building in Al Khuwayr, houses an interesting collection of exhibits of life in its amazing forms from ancient times since it first appeared in the soils of this land.
Traces of fossils are found of tree that leafed in Al Huquf over 260 million years ago as well as the coral fossils of 270 million years ago which beautified Wadi AsSahtan in Rushtaq in those barren times. Jaw teeth of a monkey that lived over 15 and 35 million years are also found in this museum, giving us modern day observers, a glimpse of what the world was like back in those days where the wild ruled the Earth.
Many other fossilised bones and remains of trees will continue to take you further and further out into the history of Earth as remains of reptiles and butterflies and mammals fill you with a sense of loss and sadness, over times past and life lost. Here lost creatures in the forms of Arabian wolf, Arabian Red fox, elephants, birds, snakes, lizards, snails, Ibex Arabic and Flamengo stare silently, as if waiting to come back to life.
There is also a whale room that houses a massive skeleton of a sperm whale that was washed ashore the Omani coast line in the 1980’s. The museum which was opened in December 20th 1985 continues to charm its visitors with the majesty of the jungle and the sea, both of ancient times and modern day.
If you are planning to visit the Natural History Museum in Muscat, hotel accommodation is available in luxurious hotels in the vicinity such as the Millennium Resort Mussanah, which is a leading Oman Muscat hotel and offers the best in terms of luxury and comfort.
Umanga Kahandawaarachchi is a passionate travel writer who writes under the pen name, Maggie Tulliver. Her field of writing covers a wide array of content and articles related to travel and hospitality industry.
