South Africa

Vredefort Dome

WHS Score 1.97
rate
Votes 18 Average 2.31
Show votes
Votes for Vredefort Dome

0.5

  • Thomas van der Walt

1.0

  • Christoph
  • Gary Arndt
  • Richardleesa
  • Yongcheng Liu
  • Zoë Sheng

1.5

  • BaziFettehenne

2.0

  • Bernard Joseph Esposo Guerrero
  • Szucs Tamas

2.5

  • Randi Thomsen
  • Svein Elias

3.0

  • Els Slots
  • Gernot
  • Philipp Peterer
  • Roman Koeln

3.5

  • Milan Jirasek

5.0

  • SirLoydd
  • Thomas Harold Watson

The Vredefort Dome covers the most representative part of the largest meteorite impact site in the world.

The crater has a diameter of roughly 300 km, created by an asteroid of 10-15 km in diameter. It was formed over two billion years ago, making it also one of the oldest verified impact craters. The site still shows on the surface geological structures that are the result of the impact. Nothing of the meteorite itself has been found.

Community Perspective: the included area is accessible on your own from Parys, but is best explored with a guide as the geological evidence isn’t exactly self-explaining and some locations are fenced off. In the reviews below you can find the details for recommended guides.

Site Info

Official Information
Full Name
Vredefort Dome (ID: 1162)
Country
South Africa
Status
Inscribed 2005 Site history
History of Vredefort Dome
2005: Inscribed
Inscribed
WHS Type
Natural
Criteria
  • viii
Links
UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
Related Resources
News Article
  • Jan. 16, 2015 bdlive.co.za — 'Official mismanagement' sees Vredefort Dome fall into ruin
  • Aug. 24, 2009 iol.co.za — Proposed five-star hotel and conference centre threatens Vredefort Dome as a World Heritage Site
  • April 17, 2009 miningweekly.com — The Department of Minerals and Energy has granted an application for gold prospecting rights around the Vredefort Dome
  • Aug. 12, 2008 sabcnews.com — The Vredefort Dome World Heritage Site is to be struck on a 2 Rand gold commemorative coin
  • March 19, 2008 iol.co.za — The Vredefort Dome in the Free State is under threat from pollution in the Vaal River.

Community Information

  • Community Category
  • Natural landscape: Eroded
Travel Information
Recent Connections
View all (15) .
Connections of Vredefort Dome
Trivia
  • In private ownership
    The demarcated area is nearly exclusively privately owned with state land only comprising approximately 600 hectares out of a total of more than 30 000 hectares. (nom file)
  • Built or owned by Dutch
    Dutch settlers arrived at 1836 and established large farms
Damaged
  • Meteorite impact
    a representative part of a larger meteorite impact structure, or astrobleme (Unesco website)
World Heritage Process
Human Activity
WHS on Other Lists
Timeline
  • Proterozoic
    The crater's age is estimated to be 2.023 billion years (~ 4 million years), which places it in the Paleoproterozoic era. (Wiki)
Visiting conditions
WHS Names
  • Peace
    Vrede = Peace (in Afrikaans and Dutch)
News
bdlive.co.za 01/16/2015
'Official mismanagement' sees Vred…
iol.co.za 08/24/2009
Proposed five-star hotel and confe…
miningweekly.com 04/17/2009
The Department of Minerals and Ene…

Community Reviews

Show full reviews
First published: 25/07/23.

Szucs Tamas

Vredefort Dome

Vredefort Dome (Inscribed)

Vredefort Dome by Szucs Tamas

My expectations were low - the site was not really appealing, but I wanted to bag it anyway. It seemed to ba an easy tick as this - besides Maropeng - tihs is the other WHS that can be done from Jo'burg in a daytrip. Parys, the starting point for the trip is only 1hour 15 mins from Jo'burg on the motorway. I do not know anything about the public transport - but I seriously doubt that any foreign tourist wouzld dare using public transport in and near Jo'burg. From the previous reviews and the general description of the site I understood, that although it is totally possible to explore the area on your own, as there are some tar roads and more dirt ones through te core zone it is more advisable to do it with a guide. Fortunately I found Gustav Engelbrecht, who by the way work for the world heritage visitor center, who offered a 7 hours tour for only 450 ZAR per preson. I booked it for my group and it proved to be a very good decision. The site - in georphicaly measures - great, but what you can see are quire average looking mountain ranges and strange rocks. Without a PhD in geology - or a knowledgable guide - they look like any other mountain or any other rock. Gustav was able to show us the invisible - ad took us to really nice places from Quaries, to river crossings, from prtoglyphs to historic …

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First published: 19/01/19.

Philipp Peterer

Vredefort Dome

Vredefort Dome (Inscribed)

Vredefort Dome by Philipp Peterer

I avoid guided tours whenever possible, but in case of Vredefort Dome it was simply too hard to find out where to go and what to look for. It doesn’t help either that some of the sites are on private land. Being in South Africa for business, I had a day off and wanted to squeeze in Vredefort and Sterkfontein. Off-season, not many tourists visit the region, so I went on a 3 hour private tour with Dome Tour, paying for 4 people. My guide was Prof. Graeme Addison, a very friendly and knowledgeable guy, offering different tours and activities from his ranch (easy to find with google maps from JNB airport). Your own car is supposed to be used for the tour, but as I didn’t have a 4WD I had to spend some extra bucks and we went with Graeme’s car.

The tour itself was very interesting. We visited an old quarry and diffent spots that made the enormous size of the crater somehow visible. We also stopped at an old mining village with a small museum. Unlike Cape Town, this part of the country has very dry winters, which granted me an unexpected beautiful and sunny day. Between the places of interest, you pass by animal farms with Giraffes and other exotic animals as well as fields of cashew trees. The region has some natural beauty to offer and overall it was a relaxing and calm experience. Maybe not the most exciting WHS on the list, …

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First published: 15/10/16.

Els Slots

Vredefort Dome

Vredefort Dome (Inscribed)

Vredefort Dome by Els Slots

The Vredefort Dome is one of the most unique sites on the World Heritage List. It covers a representative part of what is the largest meteorite impact structure on earth. The structure is also the oldest at 2023 million years (or as some sources say: the second oldest after Suavjärvi which seems to be slightly older). This also makes it the oldest WHS in our Timeline. It’s virtually impossible to comprehend how old this is: the impact happened before our continents split, before most forms of plant life as we know it existed (only stromatolites lived after) and well before animals and humans came into existence.

The crater site lies in the Free State and North West Provinces, near the towns of Parys and Vredefort and some 1.5 hours west of Johannesburg. No towns exist in the dome itself, but there are many farms. Almost the whole designated area is private land. That’s one of the reasons that the site is hard to visit. And also you really have to know what to look for: the crater itself is so large (400km in diameter) that it can only be seen from the air. So the focus needs to be on the geological impact of the event that is still visible on the ground.

Fortunately, there are a few local tour guides who are waiting to share their knowledge. I choose Jan Fourie, who runs private tours from Parys. I opted for the 5-hour version (which ended up taking …

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First published: 08/07/08.

Anonymous

Vredefort Dome

Vredefort Dome (Inscribed)

Vredefort Dome by Els Slots

I am particularly worried about the developments that are forcefully intended to take place in the vredefort dome, by landowners of course.As an environmentalist and conservationist I seem to put much blame on the policies governing the WHS, they are definately not protective on these beautiful "protected areas" they intend to protect. The dome is quiet a beautiful place to visit, the landscape,the vegetation, the mammals, birds, the varying climates in the mountains during winter,etc., are a the factors that cannot be destroyed as they occured for a reason, and the history thereof shouldn't just disappear for the benefit of the few rich landowners who aim to get richest at the expence of a beautiful WORLD RECOGNIZED SITE like the dome. The place needs to be fully protected. This includes the Vaal River(the habitat for the endangered Yellow fish) which is extremely polluted.I go in there almost weekly to study the mammals in the area, and I tell you there is a decline in species variety and numbers although the figures are not definite,as yet. The reason for this is one, human impacto. Man can be as dangerous to the natural environment as evil to humanity.People should visit this place and discover the art of nature put to them...and will keep in touch with further comments. This first one was a complaint and I will be more positive soon, but this I will do with the improved involvement of the powers that be. The DOME cannot function all by itself, …

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