Maropeng Visitor Centre Cradle of Humankind

” Maropeng is educational and great fun “

” Maropeng has top quality exhibits . . . had an interesting and entertaining guide “

” . . . fun and educational for children and a lot for adults to think about “

MAROPENG VISITOR CENTRE

Not far from the Sterkfontein Caves is the Maropeng Visitor Centre, where the theme of our human development, and a peep at our early ancestors, continues!

It’s a modern, world class exhibition, and one of only twelve sites worldwide, that is recognised by the Smithsonian Museum for being influential in promoting the awareness of human evolution.
Great for kids!

Your tour really starts before you get inside the Tumulus building.
Outdoor displays and small excavations, of an Early Stone Age site, that have unearthed, amongst other objects, cleavers and handaxes, line the path.
The early humans that inhabited this area were hunter-gatherers, and it was they who hewed these tools out of the local rock.

. . . DISPLAYS ARE VERY INTERACTIVE!

It’s once you’re inside that the fun begins!

A boat ride through time – starting with the present and going back to the formation of our planet earth, followed by the Vortex Tunnel, replicating a Black hole, with its warnings of possible “dizziness, nausea, unbalance and unsteadiness…”, that get you to the start of the museum displays!

The displays are bright, colourful and very interactive, resulting in a hands-on learning experience.

They deal with the formation of the earth, our physiological development from early man and our cultural evolution to where we are today.

On the negative side, the message the exhibits portray is not unique, and some tend to be a bit confusing due to insufficient explanation.

Guides, who are available, are probably essential to you enjoying the experience.

MAROPENG RESTAURANTS

Maropeng has two restaurants – the Market Place restaurant, in the area where you buy your tickets, that serves good light meals and snacks, and the formal Tumulus Restaurant, on the first floor of the Tumulus building, overlooking the Magaliesberg.
I’ve only had a Sunday lunch buffet, which was very good.

KIDDIES CAVE

An interesting little side show after exiting the museum, is the Kiddies Cave.
It’s a small, man made hide away for the little ones to explore, that is dark enough to be adventurous.

PAST EXHIBITS

‘ALMOST HUMAN’ – THE HOMO NALEDI EXHIBITION’

This exhibit has ended and the fossils returned to Wits University for further scientific research.
I’ve left this here due to interest in its scientific value.

Rick Hunter and Steven Tucker, two recreational cavers, discovered fossils, of a yet to be identified hominid, in September 2013 in the Rising Star Cave system, in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site

The new species, named Homo Naledi, was announced to the world at a press conference in September 2015

UNDERGROUND ASTRONAUTS

People, fitting certain criteria – due to the nature of the work as well as confined conditions, were needed to excavate the bones.

Palaeoanthropologist Lee Berger, from the University of the Witwatersrand, put an ad. on his Facebook page on 6th October 2013, and the 6 female scientists who were chosen, were given the name ‘Underground Astronauts’
Even on their flight to Johannesburg, they had no idea what they were coming to, as the expedition was shrouded in secrecy.

Their ‘fate’ was to excavate the bones of Homo naledi from the Dinaledi Chamber, and were given the name because of the danger in entering a shaft, that narrowed to a 175 mm (7 in) opening, to get to the cave, 10 metres (36 ft) below.

The remains of a child and a partial skeleton of an adult male, named Neo by scientists, were found in a second chamber, called Lesedi.

Access to the Lesedi chamber was almost as difficult as reaching the Dinaledi chamber.

Link to the Maropeng website