Day 3

in south •  8 years ago  (edited)

Today was a lovely day. I was up and ready for breakfast by 0700 (my only dorm mate in the 14 bed dorm left at 0600 this morning, so I had the whole room and facilities to myself!). I had a cheese and ham sandwich, a big bowl of cornflakes and some orange juice. My driver arrived promptly at 0800 and off we went. We were headed to the Sterkfontein Caves, part of the ‘Cradle Of Humankind’ – an area of about 50,000 hectares. It is one of the richest sites containing early hominid fossils and is particularly famous for ‘Mrs Ples’ and ‘Little Foot’. I wandered around the exhibition first, which tells you the brief story of mankind from the ‘Big Bang’ to now and includes the evolution of humans in it. It was very interesting. Next it was time for the caves themselves, but not before being issued a very flattering hair net and bright orange safety helmet!

It was about a ten minute walk to the caves, with lots of information and pictures stands to look at on the way, and beautiful scenery of course.

We entered the caves and were shown. They are so cool! Really beautiful, with stalactites, stalagmites, columns and just beautiful formations. We were shown the ‘elephant chamber’ (one formation looked like an elephant – with a bit of imagination) and then we were shown the lake. Apparently three divers went to explore it once, at a certain point in the dive two of them turned back deciding it wasn’t safe, the third one carried on. His body was found six weeks later and since then no one has been allowed to explore the caves! What a shame! Who knows what else the caves could have to offer!? It was really interesting though, and so much fun, there were a couple of ladders and a few crawly bits, which are always fun. The photos I took in the caves aren’t too great, there was too much lighting there for the flash to work properly, but not enough that they allowed for a good picture!

We left the caves and could then wander around the pathway laid with signs and images pointing to the other excavation sites within the ‘Cradle Of Humankind’.

I went and had a quick look around the gift shop and then went back to my driver. He drove me to the Maropeng visitor centre – the museum part. We arrived and I decided to wait the twenty minutes for the next guided tour, so I had a look around the shop. I really wanted to buy a couple of souvenirs but I couldn’t decide what I liked best and don’t want to have to look after things for the next year! So I didn’t buy anything.

The guided tour was next, some of what she told us I’d already heard at the caves, but most of it was new information and it’s just so fascinating! One of the first things the guide told us (during the outside part of the tour) was to watch out for snakes, and to stay on the path. The snake to watch out for is the puff adder, apparently it’s very venomous and there is no anti-venom!

The next part of the tour was inside, all about the dinosaurs, even some comparison of bone sizes!

We got to go on a little ride as well, a bit like the Ribena Rapids at Thorpe Park, except with no seat belts, a lot less splashing and a lot more based around the four elements. It was quite good fun. The next part of the tour was a ‘vortex’ – one of those tunnels with a pattern (in this case stars), spinning around and as you walk through it, it feels like it’s spinning! Such fun!

After this we were left to explore the rest of the museum on our own. I walked up to the viewpoint, which was stunning, beautiful green scenery in every direction.

On the way back to meet the driver, I saw a sign for a 2km walking trail, so I had a wander around that too. I saw loads of beautiful butterflies and birds and it wasn’t too sunny (just hot) so it made good weather for walking🙂

I made my way back to the driver and we drove back to the hostel. On both the way there and back he told me all about the surroundings, which parts of town we were going through and about different things to do in Johannesburg. I told him I was planning to go to the Apartheid Museum tomorrow and he told me about the tour they offer for it. You get to visit several attractions in one day, and the price including driving and entry is only a little more than what a taxi would cost – that’s tomorrow sorted🙂

We arrived back at the hostel about 1400 and I had a couple of cereal bars for lunch (I wasn’t hungry!!) I had a lazy afternoon, reading, using the internet and just chilling. I also found out, I passed my Chinese exam – yay!

I had some chicken noodles for dinner and then some crisps for a snack too! I read some more book, watched a film called ‘Divergent’ which was on the TV and then had a nice early night🙂

https://southafricaaccordingtojenni.wordpress.com

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