Celebrating Heritage: A guide to South Africa's World Heritage Sites

Heritage Day, this year, is on a Wednesday, and if you’re looking for ways to spend the public holiday, a visit to one of South Africa’s heritage sites is highly recommended.

In South Africa, there are eight World Heritage Sites, as proclaimed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,

Robben Island

Located on the coast of Cape Town, Robben Island is best known as a political prison, famous for detaining Nelson Mandela and Robert Sobukwe, to name a few. The island’s history is incredibly rich and diverse, going back more than 400 years. 

The site serves as a powerful memorial to the fight for freedom in South Africa and globally, due to its history as a place of banishment, imprisonment, and exile spanning centuries.

Robben Island Museum was established by the Department of Arts and Culture in 1997. It is open to the public for general tours at a cost. The prison tour is conducted by a Robben Island Tour Guide.

Robben Island Museum uses two ferries, which transport visitors and staff to the island. 

Cradle of Humankind

The Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa, inscribed by UNESCO, comprise the Taung Child site in North West Province, the Makapan Valley site in Limpopo Province, and 15 (originally 12) declared National Heritage Sites known as The Cradle of Humankind.

Located in the Muldersdrift area, about 40km northwest of Johannesburg, these palaeo-anthropological sites have some of the richest concentrations of fossil hominid-bearing sites in the world.

Maropeng, the “place of our origins," carries global stature as the Visitor Centre to South Africa’s fascinating World Heritage Site - the Cradle of Humankind, with its panoramic surroundings and breathtaking views of the Magaliesberg Mountains.

Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape

Mapungubwe National Park and World Heritage Site, located in Limpopo, is a place of serenity, identity, and extraordinary history, ideal for wildlife and bird enthusiasts. 

It was once South Africa's first kingdom, a realm that flourished for 400 years before its abandonment in the 14th century.

Today, Mapungubwe offers a unique blend of history, nature, and adventure with its scenic viewpoints, cultural heritage sites, and diverse ecosystems waiting to be explored.

Vredefort Dome

Approximately two billion years ago, a catastrophic event occurred near the present-day village of Vredefort in the Orange Free State: an enormous meteorite, 10 to 15 kilometers in diameter, collided with Earth. 

This impact created the Vredefort Dome, the earliest and largest impact structure yet discovered on our planet, causing unimaginable destruction and chaos. 

The geological significance of the mountainous region around Parys, part of the Dome, is global, underscoring the vital role meteorite impacts have played in Earth's formation and the evolution of its flourishing life forms.

iSimangaliso Wetland Park 

This is a huge protected area along the coast of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal Province. The park’s centrepiece is the vast Lake St. Lucia, home to large numbers of hippos, crocodiles, pelicans, and flamingos.

The name iSimangaliso means miracle and wonder, which aptly describes this unique place. It is South Africa’s second-largest protected area after the Kruger National Park.

The Park contains three major lake systems, eight interlinking ecosystems, 700-year-old fishing traditions, most of South Africa’s remaining swamp forests, Africa’s largest estuarine system, 530 bird species, and 25,000-year-old coastal dunes, among the highest in the world. 

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