Maropeng: Official Visitor Centre for the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage site
Human-origins exhibition in a grass-covered mound, opening with an underground boat ride.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Maropeng, visitor centre for the Cradle of Humankind near Johannesburg, opens in 1994 with paleontologist Ron Clarke sifting through boxes of old mining debris and finding four small foot bones that didn't belong to any animal. It follows the search his colleagues made through the nearby caves for the rest of the skeleton, and the years spent freeing it from stone as hard as concrete. Listen for what waits at the end of the underground boat ride.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Cradle of Humankind
Vast limestone cave system where fossil hunters have unearthed some of humanity's oldest known ancestors.
Sterkfontein Caves
Limestone cave system where nearly complete early human ancestor fossils were chiseled from solid rock over decades.
Origins Centre, Wits University
Interactive museum tracing two million years of human origins through San rock art, fossils and stone tools.
Gold Reef City Theme Park
Former gold-mine shaft turned underground tour and heritage theme park on the historic Witwatersrand reef.
Northcliff Ridge eco park
Hilltop ridge park with paved trails, panoramic city views, and Stone and Iron Age archaeological remains.
NIROX Sculpture Park
Thirty-hectare former trout farm turned open-air sculpture park with sixty permanent works.