Maropeng is the official visitors’ centre for the Cradle of Humankind, a World Heritage Site within easy distance of Johannesburg and Pretoria. Its name means “returning to the place of origin” in Setswana, one of South Africa’s 11 official languages. At the Maropeng Visitor Centre you will journey back in time from the start of our universe, some 14 billion years ago, to the present and beyond. Inside the tumulus building, you'll find fun, interactive displays that could keep you occupied for a morning or even a whole day, whilst serving up plenty of food for thought about our future in the 21st century and beyond. The centre lies on the boundary of a 47 000-hectare area, which was recognised as a World Heritage Site in 1999. More than 1000 hominid fossils and several hominid species have been found in a network of limestone caves here, spanning a period of around three million years

Discover the Secrets of Early Humans in the World-Famous Sterkfontein Caves Step into the depths of the world-renowned Sterkfontein Caves, where every step takes you millions of years back in time. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is more than just a cave—it's a portal to the past, revealing some of the most groundbreaking discoveries in human evolution. Famous for the "Mrs Ples" skull and the nearly complete 3.67-million-year-old "Little Foot" skeleton, Sterkfontein has yielded thousands of fossils that continues reshaping our understanding of human evolution.