With a drive time of one hour, our next destination of Maropeng was a breeze. The Cradle of Humankind was located right beside the boutique hotel we booked which was convenient. Upon arrival we noticed the turmoil of a large concert area being set up. Turns out it was a free concert the following day in honour of Heritage Day in South Africa. Sidestepping the descending swarms of people, we quickly made plans to get our visit to the Maropeng exhibition completed on this arrival day rather than fighting any chaotic crowd the next day.
Maropeng was very pretty and the surrounding grassy fields reminded us of the Canadian prairies during summertime. As I enjoyed the breeze and the kids slept with car doors open, Jimmy the Sherpa graciously unloaded our parked car. As it turns out, the hotel was pretty fancy and not really set up for kids as they had touted. They did provide an extra mattress that fit on the floor though and the kids enjoyed jumping from our generous bed to it.
The Maropeng exhibition wasn’t quite as scientific as we thought and rather it was set as part theme park/ part exhibition. We started our visit with a boat ride through air, water, fire, and earth (very fun for the kids!) then we walked through the exhibition centre which introduces major themes, such as evolution, the formation of fossils, extinction, DNA, and the birth of the Earth and the Cradle of Humankind.
We walked outside the centre in the warm sun and found a playground which was taken over by African teenagers. They performed a bunch of dances which were fun to watch. Rhys liked the dancing but thought they were too loud 😉 After tiring ourselves out we headed back to the hotel for a drink on the patio while the kids put their feet in the freezing cold pool. The view was fantastic!
After a nice bath for the kids and further fun jumping off the bed, it was time for slumber. All in all it was a nice visit to Maropeng. The next morning we planned to visit the Sterkfontein Caves then onwards to home….
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Rhys is a HUGE fan of dinosaurs!:
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