Today, we visited two of the fourteen South African sites that collectively form the World Heritage Site that is known as, “The Cradle of Humankind”. These two are the closest to Johannesburg and are about 90 minutes outside of the city.

The “Maropeng Site” houses, “The Cradle of Humankind Museum”  (http://www.maropeng.co.za/). On approach, the entrance is an imposing mound of grass covered earth. The entry to the exhibit area is through a cleverly designed floating river-raft ride which takes visitors through a “cave”. This “cave” introduces the visitor to the elements and conditions that allowed the development of humankind; water, ice, wind, fire, and earth. Visitors then walk through a tube that is surrounded by a spinning vortex of light representing the passage of eons. This is where the actual exhibits finally start. Unfortunately, the exhibits (while interesting) are not particularly captivating. I felt they were a sort of “Science World-Lite”.

Stalactite: “The Elephant”

The “Sterkfontein Caves Site”  (http://www.maropeng.co.za/index.php/sterkfontein/) consists of a visitor centre and the cave complex. The visitor centre house a small exhibition hall; many of the exhibits are similar to or the same as ones at the “Cradle Museum”. The guided tour through the cave complex takes about about a hour.

On leaving the caves, visitors can walk to the adjacent site where they are still actively excavating.

My overall impression is that at R200 per person for a Combination Entry (allowing entry to both sites; they are approximately 10 minutes drive from each other), the visit while certainly interesting, was not a particularly good value for the money.

On the way back to Joburg, we stopped at a restaurant named, “Carnivore”. It looked great and specializes in game meats. Unfortunately, we just missed their lunch service were too early for the dinner seating. Too bad for me 😦

Instead, we settled for a quick bite in the food court of a brand new casino complex; the “Montecasino”. The casino is absolutely huge with the exterior made to look like a cross between an Italian village and a medieval fortified town. The interior was pure, “Viva Las Vegas, baby!”. Even the shopping area was like a combination of the Caesar’s Palace Shopping Forums and The Venetian’s shopping mall. The interesting item to note was that due to the common practice of carrying legally-permitted concealed firearms (pistols), the casino provides a secured check-in service to safely store patrons’ guns while they are enjoying the casino’s offerings… damned civilized I’d have to say.