CradleOfHumankind.com exists because visiting the Cradle is easy once you know how — and confusing until you do. Which site is which? Are the caves open? Why is there no bus? This is an independent travel guide to the Cradle of Humankind and the country around it, written to be useful before you go and on the day.
We are not the official website of the World Heritage Site, of Maropeng or of the Sterkfontein Caves, and we are not connected with the management authority, the universities or any tour operator.
What we cover
- What there is to see: Sterkfontein, Maropeng, the story of Rising Star and the other fossil sites.
- Which tours are worth booking, ranked honestly and updated as ratings change.
- How to get there from Johannesburg and Pretoria, with realistic journey times.
- Wildlife parks, balloon flights, Lesedi, the Magaliesberg and Hartbeespoort Dam.
- Where to sleep, in the Cradle and in the city.
- When to come, and what each season is like.
How we research
Facts about the fossils follow the published science and the information provided by the sites themselves. Practical details — opening days, prices, journey times — are checked against operators and official sources and reviewed regularly. Where something is in flux, as opening arrangements at the caves have been, we say so plainly and tell you to verify rather than pretend to a certainty that does not exist. Tour ratings and review counts come directly from GetYourGuide.
How the site is funded
We are a GetYourGuide affiliate partner and link to Trip.com for accommodation. If you book a tour or a room through a link on this site, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. That is the only way this guide is funded — there is no advertising, no sponsored placement and no paid inclusion in any ranking. Read the full affiliate disclosure.
Corrections
Opening hours change, tours change hands, new fossils rewrite the story. If something here is out of date or wrong, please tell us — we would rather fix it than defend it. Write to us via the contact page.
Images
All photography on this site is freely licensed (CC0, public domain, CC BY or CC BY-SA) and sourced from Wikimedia Commons. Every photographer is credited on our image credits page.
