Discover Darwin

Opening this Friday, 14th November, The Natural History Museum’s new Darwin exhibition commemorates the bicentenary of Charles Darwin and features many rare exhibits and engaging interactive experiences. The exhibition comes soon after the Museum launched a collection of one-off expert-led Natural History tours in conjunction with travel partner Cox & Kings.

In 2009, Cox & Kings and the Natural History Museum are offering two exclusive expert-led tours of Ecuador & the Galapagos, including an exploration of the islands that led Darwin to formulate his Theory of Evolution.

At Darwin, visitors can retrace the scientist’s life-changing journey aboard the HMS Beagle on its five-year voyage around the world. Follow the clues that helped him develop the idea of evolution by natural selection through notebooks, artefacts and rare personal belongings, and the fossils and zoological specimens he collected on his travels. See the patterns he observed among animals that led to the publication of On the Origin of Species, which gathered the evidence for the theory of evolution by natural selection.

Darwin features live green iguanas and horned frogs from South America, along with fossil specimens collected by Darwin. The exhibition also features a life-sized reconstruction of Darwin’s study at Down House and a collection of family photographs and letters that give an insight into the private life of the naturalist.

Alex Gaffikin, exhibition developer at the Natural History Museum, says: “Our mission is to share the wonders of the natural world with the general public and we’re really excited to host this landmark exhibition. Evolution is such an important subject, and we’re looking forward to engaging our visitors in developments surrounding this fascinating area of science.”

The Natural History Museum recently chose Cox & Kings as its official travel partner, and together they have launched a special collection of one-off, expert led Natural History tours. On 31st July 2009, naturalist and conservationist Mike Dilger will be leading an 11-night tour of Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands for Cox & Kings and the Natural History Museum and, on 23rd October, palaeontologist and NHM Research Fellow Julian Pender Hume will lead the same tour. Prices for the tour are from £3,995 per person.

For more information, log on to coxandkings.co.uk.