Exploring The Sterkfontein Caves

Didier and I drove out to the Cradle of Humankind to spend an afternoon exploring the Sterkfontein caves. We may have been trapped on a tour with a bunch of over-talkative kids, but all in all, it was still super cool. For those of you who read my previous post about cave-touring, it's interesting to note that both caves are part of the same system.

The Cradle of Humankind Site is named as such because it stands as one of the world's richest sources of hominid fossil remains. While the caves also bear plant and animal fossils, the discovery of the ancient hominid bones have been the most important as they've helped scientists learn how and where our human ancestors evolved.

All in all, the cave sites have produced over 850 hominid fossil remains, cementing the theory that all humans originated from Africa.

Heading down into the cave system!

Selfie! haha... five takes later...

The site itself is composed of limestone caves that are about 2.3 billion years old. 

Interesting fact: the caves started out as underwater coral reefs!

There were points in the tour that passed by shallow pools of water that still run through the caves. The water was perfectly clear and ice cold. Apparently it is safe to drink but I didn't try it myself!

Sadly, our guide told us a tragic story about a group of scuba researchers. In 1984 they set out to map the underwater labyrinth of the caves. One of the men lost contact with the group and was found weeks later, dead. Pretty sure "alone in a dark underwater cave" ranks as one of the most terrifying ways to go. 

The presence of water gave the place an eerie vibe that was actually quite calming

The coolest part about these caves was that there were some very small, very shallow sections that you had to maneuver through. 

Some required crawling on all fours and others forced you to slide along down on your bum. It brought back that child-like feeling of exciting exploration!

You can see how low the limestone ceiling is here!

This section had STEEP stairs that pretty much went straight down 15 feet. 

My turn to brave the stairs. The tricky part was keeping your head away from the rocks while also taking care not to fall down face-first. Water dripped everywhere so things were slick with mud.  

Didier doing his best to squeeze through!

Like the other cave tour I went on, this one pointed out fun rock formations (an elephant head, the virgin Mary) and stopped every once and a while to talk about what types of fossils were found where.

It was neat to see actual geological research sites plotted out and barriered off within the caves themselves. You could read notes written on little tags and get a feel for the amount of detail and patient work that goes into their work.  

Everyone had mud-splattered limbs once we emerged from the depths

The tour ended with a brief repose outside the back-end of the cave system. It was nice to catch a breather after all the climbing and crawling! 

In the photo above, you can see our guide standing with the statue of the Dr. Broom. He was the man who discovered "Mrs.Ples", the first complete skull of an Australopithecus Africanu at the Sterkfontein Caves (dated 2.05 million years old and a distant relative to all human beings).

It's said that if you rub his nose, you'll acquire luck, and if you touch his hand, he will grant you wisdom. I chose not to push my luck and rely on my own personal wisdom of sanitation common-sense and opted NOT touch it at all. Yucky, right?? :)

All in all, I have to admit that it was pretty amazing to walk the same ground that our ancestors did 1.6 million years ago. It sort of makes you wonder what types of tours people will be taking to learn about OUR ways of life millions of years from now...