Travel Guides Southern Africa - Wildlife, Game Reserves, Safaris, Photographic Safaris, Birding Safaris, Hiking

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Province: Limpopo Province
Attraction: Makapansgat Valley

Makapansgat Valley 
This historic and archeologically significant valley is situated south of the capital of the Limpopo in the Strydpoort Mountain range. This valley with its numerous caves not only forms an integral part of the heritage of South Africa but also the rest of the world as it directly links in with the history at the Cradle of Man. 

In February 1925 Professor Raymond Dart announced the discovery of the first ape-man at Taung (Nortwest Province) with these profound words: "The specimen is of importance because it exhibits and extinct race of apes intermediate between living anthropoids and man…." A teacher from Polokwane, Mr Wilfred Eitzman, inspired by this discovery, sent Dart some rocks containing fossils that he found near the limekilns on the farm Makapansgat. This is how one on the most revealing chapters on the origin and evolution of Humankind was opened. 

Since the University of the Witwatersrand started their scientific research at the caves the following was founded: 
The Lime works yielded fossil remains dating back to 3,3 million years before present and include remains of Australopithecus africanus. 
Cave of Hearths & Hyena Cave preserves a complete record of human occupation from "Acheuliian" times in the Early Stone Age to Late Stone Age and Iron Age. 

Buffalo Cave produced the fossil remains of the extinct buffalo Bos makapania as well as remains of other fauna such as horses, pigs, monkeys and carnivores. 

Ficus Cave contains Iron Age relics, a bat colony and a large underground lake. Close by is another Iron Age site dating 870 AD. 
Peppercorn's Cave contains Iron Age relics as well as a large colony of long-fingered bats, Minops schreiberii. 

Rainbow cave contains several hearths as well as Middle Stone Age remains of the Polokwane culture. 

Makapansgat (historic cave) contains the relics of the dramatic siege of the Ba-Tlou people by the Voortrekkers. The siege was in response to the massacre of the Voortrekkers at Moorddrift, when the Tlou people killed a number of Voortrekker women and children. It was during this episode in history that thee Voortrekker leader Piet Potgieter lost his life and Paul Kruger retrieved his body. 
Makapansgat currently holds great significance for the local community, specifically the royal kraal of Chief Kekana. A site is indicated when entering the historical cave, where the local community met with their ancestors offering snuff, beer and mealie meal. 

This series of caves is declared a national monument and plans are underway to have it declared as a World Heritage site. A joint venture between the Limpopo Government and the University of the Witwatersrand hope to have this magnificent heritage developed in such a way that everybody can enjoy it without damaging the integrity of the site. 
Visits to this icon can be arranged for small groups.