MAROPENG - THE CRADLE OF HUMANKIND, Johannesburg, South Africa Tourism
Maropeng is the official Visitor Centre of the Cradle of Humankind, one of South Africa’s eight World Heritage Sites and one of the major tourist attractions in South Africa.It's the world's richest hominin site, home to around 40% of the world's human ancestor fossils.The Cradle of Humankind region in South Africa, which is approximately 90 minutes' drive from the Johannesburg city centre.
The exhibition centre takes visitors on a journey of discovery to learn more about the origins of humankind, and is housed in the Tumulus, a unique architectural structure resembling an ancient burial mound. An underground boat ride starts the adventure, taking visitors through the various stages of Earth’s creation. Visitor’s then emerge into the main exhibition halls, where the evolution of humankind is illustrated through fun and interactive displays and games.
More than just an exploration of human origins, the Maropeng exhibition also inspires visitors to be more aware of threats to the environment. The sustainability wall, which runs across the main exhibition room, highlights important facts about modern humans and our consumption of rapidly decreasing natural resources. Maropeng provides visitors with a rare opportunity to view original hominid and dinosaur fossils, as well as ancient artifacts housed in the fossil display room. The collections on display change throughout the year, ensuring there is always something new to see at Maropeng. The area is also home to a diversity of birds, animals and plants, some of which are rare or endangered.
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STERKFONTEIN CAVES - A WORLD HERITAGE SITE, Johannesburg, South Africa Tourism
An hour’s drive from Johannesburg and Pretoria, the Sterkfontein Caves are world famous for their fossil finds and a well-known visitor destination. The Sterkfontein Caves site is home to a top restaurant, conferencing facilities, easy access to the caves themselves, modern walkways and a boardwalk past the excavation site where world-acclaimed fossils have been discovered.
The tours at the Sterkfontein Caves, which start above ground and then take visitors deep into the caves, run every half hour, seven days a week.
Within the Sterkfontein Caves, scientists have discovered many hominid and other animal fossils, dating back more than 4-million years, to the birth of humanity. The most important and most famous of these fossils are “Mrs Ples”, a 2.1-million-year-old Australopithecus skull, and “Little Foot”, an almost complete Australopithecus skeleton that is more than 3-million years old. These fossils, both found in the Sterkfontein Caves in the Cradle of Humankind, tell us much about the precursors of modern humans, Homo sapien
The Sterkfontein Caves, situated in the Cradle of Humankind, represent one of the world's richest fossil sites, and discoveries there continue to astound the international scientific community. Here is a collection of sometimes surprising facts about the caves.
In the late 1890s gold miners dynamited the Sterkfontein caves in search of limestone which they converted into the quick lime required for processing gold. Their explosions revealed entrances to the cave system.Around 2.5-billion years ago, the area now known as the Cradle was a shallow inland sea.
An estimated 40% of all the world's human ancestor fossils have been found in the Cradle.The Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site has become a major international tourism destination with close to 400 tourism attractions, including 91 graded establishments.
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Introducing the Cradle of Humankind
Only an hour from Johannesburg is a very special World Heritage Site. The Cradle of Humankind not only reveals tantalising clues about the origins of our species, but it is also an attractive tourism destination with a range of activities and great places to stay. Find out more at
Swartkrans Cave - The Cradle of Humankind
One of South Africa's most famous sites for fossil discoveries, the Sterkfontein Caves, are a popular tourist destination. At only an hour's drive from Johannesburg and Pretoria, the facility also offers visitors an excellent exhibition tour.
The Sterkfontein Caves are owned by the University of the Witwatersrand, whose scientists have been responsible for the main excavations of the World Heritage Site. They are credited with many of the famous discoveries including the world famous Mrs Ples and Little Foot, an almost complete Australopithecine skeleton dating back 2.15-million years.
The tours start above ground and then take visitors down into the caves, finishing off along the boardwalk past the excavation site. The caves are open Monday to Sunday from 09h00 to 17h00 and the last tour departs at 16h00.
No exploration of the Sterkfontein Caves is complete without a visit to the Maropeng Visitor Centre, where the whole story of the fossil finds and the evolution of man is presented in beautiful displays and exhibitions. There is no need to rush home - spend a night at the beautiful Maropeng Boutique Hotel, only 10 minutes away from the Visitors centre!
Please take a look at our superb 360 degree Virtual Tour views of the Sterkfontein Caves on the Multimedia Tab. Place your mouse on the viewing window (once loaded) and from the top left blue selection area, select the scene number you wish to view. From the bottom black selection area you have a number of different functions to choose from - including a full screen view!
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Maropeng Visitor Centre: Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site
Visiting the Maropeng Visitor Centre in Gauteng's Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site? Here's what you can expect, from the prehistoric Tumulus mound to the interactive exhibition and boat ride, plus plenty of fun and family-centred entertainment in between.
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Experience The Cradle of Humankind
From exploring caves, to ziplining above the trees, to hosting a beautiful wedding, walking with elephants or dining out in style, there is plenty to experience in The Cradle of Humankind. For more info visit
Maropeng - The Cradle of Humankind - SOUTH AFRICA 02/2017
Produced by Marek Blaszczakiewicz - Podroze z Kamera (itravelwithcamera@gmail.com)
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SOUTH AFRICA Top 20 Tourist Places | Cape Town Tourism | Robben Island Attraction
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Kruger National Park, in northeastern South Africa, is one of Africa’s largest game reserves. Its high density of wild animals includes the Big 5: lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and buffalos. Hundreds of other mammals make their home here, as do diverse bird species such as vultures, eagles and storks. Mountains, bush plains and tropical forests are all part of the landscape.
Cape Town is a port city on South Africa’s southwest coast, on a peninsula beneath the imposing Table Mountain. Slowly rotating cable cars climb to the mountain’s flat top, from which there are sweeping views of the city, the busy harbor and boats heading for Robben Island, the notorious prison that once held Nelson Mandela, which is now a living museum.
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is a vast wildlife preserve in the Kalahari Desert region of Botswana and South Africa, bordering Namibia to the west. It’s characterized by red dunes and dry rivers. Wildlife includes migrating herds of wildebeest and springbok, plus predators like raptors and black-maned Kalahari lions. Various lodges and wildnerness camps offer game-viewing drives and guided walks with park rangers.
Stellenbosch is a university town in South Africa's Western Cape province. It's surrounded by the vineyards of the Cape Winelands and the mountainous nature reserves of Jonkershoek and Simonsberg. The town's oak-shaded streets are lined with cafes, boutiques and art galleries. Cape Dutch architecture gives a sense of South Africa's Dutch colonial history, as do the Village Museum's period houses and gardens.
The Drakensberg is the name given to the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest elevation in this region – 2,000 to 3,482 metres. It is located in South Africa and Lesotho.
The Garden Route is a 300-kilometre stretch of the south-eastern coast of South Africa which extends from Mossel Bay in the Western Cape to the Storms River in the Eastern Cape.
iSimangaliso Wetland Park is a huge protected area along the coast of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal Province. The park’s centrepiece is the vast Lake St. Lucia, home to large numbers of hippos, crocodiles, pelicans and flamingos. Elephants, giraffes and leopards inhabit the grasslands and forests of the nearby Western Shores and Charters Creek areas. To the north, Sodwana Bay is known for its colourful coral reefs.
Robben Island is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometres west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, South Africa. The name is Dutch for seal island. Robben Island is roughly oval in shape, 3.3 km long north-south, and 1.9 km wide, with an area of 5.08 km².
North Beach is one of the beaches of Durban, South Africa. It is situated north of the harbour and bluff, in between Bay of Plenty and Dairy Beach on Durban's Golden Mile. North Beach is one of the main beaches in Durban and is cared for by the Durban Surf Lifesaving Club.
Johannesburg, South Africa's biggest city and capital of Gauteng province, began as a 19th-century gold-mining settlement. Its sprawling Soweto township was once home to Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Mandela’s former residence is now the Mandela House museum. Other Soweto museums that recount the struggle to end segregation include the somber Apartheid Museum and Constitution Hill, a former prison complex.
The Cape Winelands District Municipality, formerly the Boland District Municipality, is a district municipality located in the Boland region of the Western Cape province of South Africa. As of 2011, it had a population of 787,490. The largest towns in the municipality are Paarl, Worcester, Stellenbosch and Wellington.
Hermanus is a seaside town southeast of Cape Town, in South Africa’s Western Cape Province. It's known as a whale-watching destination. Beaches include Voëlklip Beach and the broad Grotto Beach, overlooking Walker Bay. The Old Harbour Museum is a site encompassing the old harbour, a fishermen’s village and the Whale House Museum. The latter has informative displays and a suspended skeleton of a whale.
Knysna is a town with 68,659 inhabitants as of 2011 in the Western Cape Province of South Africa and is part of the Garden Route. It lies 34 degrees south of the equator, and is 55 kilometres east from the city of George on the N2 highway, and 33 kilometres west of the town of Plettenberg Bay on the same road.
Oudtshoorn is a town in the Klein Karoo area of South Africa’s Western Cape. It’s known for its ostrich farms and rests along the Route 62 wine route. The central C.P. Nel Museum traces the ostrich-feather boom era and houses a working synagogue. The nearby Cango Wildlife Ranch is a conservation park offering animal petting. To the north, the Cango Caves are a 20-million-year-old network of limestone chambers.
Explore the Cradle of Humankind in South Africa
Trace humanity's history with an eye-opening visit to the world's richest hominin site at The Cradle of Humankind. Located just outside of Johannesburg, the Cradle of Humankind and Sterkfontein Caves experience allows you to explore age-old caves, learn about historic fossils and wine and dine amongst amazing flora and fauna. Whichever you choose, you're sure to discover something new about our past.
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