Fossil Hominid Sites

“Great, ANOTHER fossil site” I thought, as I planned my trip through ZA and mapped the WHS on my itinerary. This is one is so easy to access just at the outskirts of Joburg, within an hour from the airport (traffic sucked a little on that day, or any day?). There are tours every half an hour and I recommend arriving 20min before to use the toilet and go through the exhibition area before descending into the Sterkfontein cave. I hate to say this but the exhibition room is the best thing to see on this site. Fossils of early man found in the cave below and explanations of how homo sapien has evolved. A rather simple science lesson and nothing I hadn't been explained at all the other early man sites.

Once you are in the cave, after a brief explanation of a sun dial outside, the tour has really little to do with that anymore. A group of science students does come here once in a month to dig for more fossils but nothing has been found in years. Instead, you get more explanation about limestone and stalactites and mining operations. Interesting is that the remains of Mrs Little actually later were found to be of a young boy and the early sexist scientists just assumed that a small brain must belong to a woman!

Another interesting fact is that the rest of the site is on private land. When I asked if there are attempts …

My two-week journey around eastern South Africa is going to be one of the obscure sites. This is partly inevitable, due to the remoteness or lack of tourism features of WHS like Mapungubwe and Vredefort Dome. But my first site of this trip is an obscure one by choice: for ticking off the Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa, there is the easy option of the Sterkfontein Caves (close to Johannesburg). From what I gathered it’s a bit of a zoo, so I opted for one of the other inscribed sets of fossil hominid caves. Fortunately, there’s one about halfway on the road north between Johannesburg and Mapungubwe: the Makapan Valley.

The Makapan Valley was added as an extension to the Sterkfontein area in 2005. It is said to enrich the original nomination, with its long unbroken record of occupation (spanning almost the entire 3.5 million years) and the recovery of fossil fauna alongside. The location (notably the Cave of Hearths) was deemed “as good” in its own right as the Ethiopian Valleys of the Omo and the Awash. The hominid fossils found here are of the Australopithecus africanus and Homo heidelbergensis species.

Gaining entrance to the site proved not to be easy, especially while organizing it from abroad. I learned that the area can currently only be visited by appointment. The e-mail addresses that I found online turned out to be invalid, however. So I decided to just show up at the associated Arend Dieperink Museum in …

I have been there, I don't live too far, and I must say, even though they show you fakes, in this country you cannot afford to let the real ones just be there.... but i must say it is as close as you can get to the real thing and all the extra first hand information about history that you can experience in a very futuristic way definitely makes it worth your while..

I landed in Johannesburg hoping to see Ms ples and the escavation of little foot. little did i know that i had paid a fortune to see some plastic figures as i didnt even get to see a glimpse of the actual authentic fossils-although the caves and scenery was brilliant

It is possible to visit the Sterkfontein caves but you have to find your own way to get there. They do tours of the caves for a nominal fee (tips are optional) but don't expect to see many fossils. The archeolocial digs were all closed off.

The caves are impressive and it is a good day out, considering the many unique private restaurants in the area. That way you could drive around the Highveld countryside enjoying some time away from the city bustle of Johannesburg.