23 Abu Dhabi, August 2026: This August, the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi goes Under the Water, dedicating the month to the wonders of the marine world. With weekend workshops, guided tours, and a month-long family expedition, visitors of all ages can journey from the sunlit surface of the ocean to its deepest, darkest reaches, all without leaving Saadiyat Cultural District.
Alongside the marine programme, the Mindful Museum series returns with morning yoga, ladies-only Lagree workouts, and sound meditation beneath the dinosaurs, while a special seashell-inspired evening with Stardust Bar takes over Nayzak Caf on August 28. Together, the programme invites visitors to explore, move, and reconnect with the natural world throughout the month.
A short, guided journey through water’s power to move, and to be moved through. This mini-tour traces movement in and through water, from an ancient Abu Dhabi hippo dependent on a long-vanished river system, to the fastest shark in the ocean, to animals that appear still but are not.
Journey into deep time and embark on a family expedition through the ancient seas and skies. Visitors collect their Field Notebook, choose the Sea Expedition or the Sky Expedition, and discover the extraordinary creatures that lived on Earth millions of years ago.
Along the way, families complete interactive tasks, uncover fascinating discoveries, and earn their Expedition Badge by exploring, observing, questioning, and thinking like a real scientist.
Dive into one of the ocean’s most mysterious environments without ever leaving the museum. This guided experience explores the whale fall in the Deep Sea Biome and the OceanX interactive in Beyond the Horizon, revealing how life thrives in total darkness, from bone-eating worms to hydrothermal vent creatures that have never seen the sun. A journey into a world we are only just beginning to understand.
Participants build a visual ‘slice’ of the ocean, placing layers from the sunlit surface down to the deep sea and matching animals to the zones where they live, discovering how life changes with every metre of depth.
Participants explore how deep-sea animals create their own light, then design glowing-inspired artwork of their own, taking home a small piece of the ocean’s magic.
Discover the seashells that wash up along the UAE’s own coastlines. Participants explore real shells found across the country, learning to identify their types, characteristics, and the habitats they come from, before joining a creative workshop with Stardust Bar to design and embellish marine-inspired accessories using what they have discovered.
The museum’s wellness series continues this August beneath the sauropods in the Atrium, offering moments of stillness and strength surrounded by 4.5 billion years of natural history.
Ladies-only Microformer Lagree sessions bring a high-intensity, low-impact workout that strengthens the core and sharpens the mind, while mindful morning yoga, open to all, invites participants to unwind, breathe, and reconnect with the natural world. Closing the month, the Sound Meditation Experience lets guests lie saudi-tech-startups/”>back beneath the dinosaurs as resonant instruments guide them into stillness, tracing the slow rhythms of a planet that has been shifting, breathing, and changing for 4.5 billion years.
Tickets are AED 70 for adults, while children aged 18 and under visit for free, making it easy for families and school-aged learners to explore together. Concessions are available for UAE students, teachers, military, Fazaa/Esaad cardholders and eligible groups, with complimentary entry for People of Determination and UAE-based seniors aged 60+.