The visitor attraction is open from 09h00 - 17h00 daily
The development includes world class attractions, which brings the history of humankind alive in an entertaining, educating and interactive way.
Includes:
 The Cradle of Humankind is a World Heritage Site which has been nominated for the rich diversity of fossils found in the area which cast light on human ancestors and their relatives and the environments which they lived in. The declared area is 47 000 hectares and extends approximately between Oaktree, Hekpoort, Broederstroom and Lanseria. Most of the site is in Gauteng with about 10% of the site in North West Province. Most of the site is on dolomite, a rock type which is slightly soluble in water. This has two major consequences- the formation of caves and the formation of fossils.
The Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site provides important information about members of one of the oldest groups of hominids, the Australopithecines. Australopithecus was a bipedal, small-brained hominid that appeared about 5 million years ago. Over time it diversified into 2-3 different genera and species, some more robust than others. The Sterkfontein Caves have produced the most complete skeleton of a 3.3 million year old Australopithecine, as well as about 500 specimens of a young species, Australopithecus africanus (c. 2.8 - 2.6 m.y.a.). Other hominid-bearing sites, such as Drimolen, Kromdraai and Swartkrans, provide insight into one of the more robust forms, Paranthropus robust (also referred to as Australopithecus robustus), which existed in the area between 2.5 and 1 million years ago. These sites have also produced fossils of an early species of Homo and the first evidence of cultural behaviour in the stone tools that they made.
Various sites in the Cradle of Humankind also provide crucial information about the environment that that these hominids lived in. Through the study of fossilised wood and the remains of many animal species, scientist can tell how the vegetation of the area has changed over time, as well as the kinds of animals that would have lived along side with and fed upon the early hominids.
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