Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Cradle Of Mankind - Sterkfontein Caves

Take a quick trip out of Johannesburg and soon you will be in a 180 square mile World Heritage Site known as the Cradle Of Humankind. This is where a roughly 3 million year old world famous fossil was found. There is the choice of visiting the Maropeng Museum or exploring the Sterkfontein Caves where the significant discoveries were made.



When you get to the Sterkfontein Caves, you walk into the main building where there is a shop and restaurant. This is where you'll get your ticket for a guided tour through the caves. Tickets are R120 ($15) for adults. There is a tour every half hour.



Before you start the tour, you can spend some time at the waiting area exhibit. This is exhibit very interesting and highly informative. A good appetizer for what is yet to come!



A tour guide fetches you from the exhibition and the tour starts. You follow a long path to the cave entrance, along which you stop now and then, and the guide explains information about the history of the site.




You then reach the cave entrance. As you start walking down the stairs into the cave you become very aware of the drastic change in temperature and humidity.




The caves very quickly, become very cold, very dark and very humid.



The guide takes you through a myriad of tunnels and rooms that boast a number of interesting rock formations such as this one known as Elephant Rock. 




The guide frequently stop at places of significance where old excavations and fossils can be viewed.



At some points, the cave gets very narrow and dark. It is even required at some points to crawl through narrow spaces to carry on. All part of the fun I guess.



After spending some time 180ft underground you eventually surface at an opening again. Statues have been put up here in memory of the archeologists that made the discoveries as far back as 1947.



I highly recommend that everyone visits the Sterkfontein Caves. It really is worth your while. It is truly a World Heritage Site that deserves its title.


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