The Cradle of Humankind & Sterkfontein Caves
This day tour brings enjoyment to the whole family and the solo traveler. Visiting 1 of 8 Unesco's World Heritage Sites in South Africa. Including a Underground cave Tour and a Boat Ride.
The Cradle of Humankind covering the region of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai and environs has one of the world's richest concentrations of hominid fossils, evidence of human evolution over the last 3.5-million years.
- Starts with being collected at your Hotel in the morning, we make our journey towards the Sterkfontein caves situated 1 hour from Johannesburg and Pretoria.
- The Sterkfontein Caves are world-famous for their fossil finds and are a popular visitor destination.
- The tour at the Sterkfontein Caves, starts above ground and then take visitors deep into the caves.
- Once we finished with the cave tour we head over to Maropeng Visitor Centre which is an award-winning, world-class exhibition, focusing on the development of humans and our ancestors over the past few million years.
- The Maropeng tour starts with a unique boat trip that depicts the history of the planet, via a series of waterways.
- Take a journey through time, starting with the formation of the planet and moving all the way through the evolutionary processes that culminated in the world as we know it today.
- See fossils, learn about how humankind was born, view stone tools that are up to one million years old, and much more. This self-guided, interactive tour allows you to take all the time you need to ponder humanity’s fascinating origin story.
- Before we head back to your hotel enjoy lunch on site.
Interested in a Safari see our
Pilanesberg Safaris or
Kruger National Park Safaris
Want to see more of
Johannesburg,
Soweto and
Apartheid Museum
Sterkfontein Caves
The Sterkfontein Caves are owned by the University of the Witwatersrand, whose scientists have been responsible for the main excavations at this World Heritage Site.
They are credited with many of the most notable discoveries in the caves, including the world-famous fossils of Mrs Ples and Little Foot, the latter being an almost complete
Australopithecus skeleton dating back more than three million years.
A visit to Sterkfontein Caves starts with a fascinating museum display of cave formations and geology, early life forms, mammals and hominid fossils, among other topics.
Here you will be introduced to “Mrs Ples”, the “Taung Child” and “Little Foot” before heading underground to explore the caves, where scientists have discovered many hominid and other animal fossils dating back more than 4-million years to the birth of humanity.
Maropeng Visitor Centre
The universe was formed about 14-billion years ago. The Earth is about 4.6-billion years old.
Life first emerged about 3.8-billion years ago. Our journey begins in South Africa, where fossils of some of the earliest known life forms on Earth have been found.
South Africa has yielded fossils of some of the earliest known dinosaurs, dating back at least 200-million years.
Fossils of our distant mammal-like ancestors, which lived more than 200-million years ago, have also been found in South Africa.
Africa is the birthplace of humankind. This is where our collective umbilical cord lies buried.
Hominids – the ancestors of modern humans – first emerged about seven million years ago, in Africa.
Many significant fossil finds have been made in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, including the famous fossils “Mrs Ples” and “Little Foot”.
The first stone tools were made and used in Africa, at least 2.6-million years ago.
Our ancestors were able to use and control fire at least one million years ago in the Cradle of Humankind.
Homo sapiens, the species to which we all belong, evolved in Africa approximately 200 000 years ago.
Africa ignited humankind’s imagination. Some of the oldest rock art in the world has been discovered in Southern Africa.
All of humanity shares an African heritage. We are one diverse species across the globe, with our roots in Africa.
