Back to the beginning…

So thanks to a Frenchie (aka Jerome) leaving and wanting to go to the Cradle of Mankind, we spent an amazing day exploring…
It started off with a coffee (not for me – I had my mug you’ll be pleased to know) at some garage and Chris and Anne Banan chasing each other around/hooting/generally causing chaos. Did I mention they were chasing each other around in their cars? Oh well… It was a sign of things to come.
After Anne leading and driving past the HUGE Sterkfontein Caves sign and concrete pillars (she claims she was talking too much, Chris reckons you should get a Garmin not a Tom Tom), we made it to the caves and met Francois, Karen and Charl. More coffee and crazy pics and we went down the caves – which were amazing. After descending 119 steps (ask Chris the exact number – he counted!), we entered the elephant chamber, so called because of the large stalagmite and stalactite formations which form an “elephant”. We also went past a very secure door where little foot, a complete Australopithecine skeleton, is still being excavated. It was then onto the 2nd chamber past an underground lake that extends for miles. The guide’s horror story was about a dive expedition that went wrong with 1 diver getting lost and dying down there – not something to tell divers as we immediately wanted to plan a dive in the caves. Apparently its not allowed :( Then it was lights off with the predicted howling to see how dark it really gets down there. The last chamber was the “body” with cavities that looked a heart and kidney, but also had some of the holes though which “they” think animals fell and subsequently died or where saber tooth cats brought their prey leaving fossils in the brecia. And then back into the sunshine (and heat) past a statue of Robert Broom – rub his nose for good luck or hand for wisdom… decisions, decisions
We walked the long way back with views over the cradle before going for ice-creams and Banan buying a hat (whats new?) and Jerome buying some strange monkey (to make sure Chris didn’t feel left out?).
Then it was off to Maropeng and Anne didn’t drive past this time! It is really well done – you approach a huge grass covered dome which houses the museum. You walk in and down a timeline starting at the most recent and ending on a boat ride depicted water (including an ice tunnel and real snow storm), fire, earth and wind. And then through a vortex tunnel depicting the big bang, and you get thrown into life on earth – “so much of fun” with games and hand on exhibits but also many thought provoking sayings. They also had an interesting section on what makes us human before going through a fossil section.
By now tummy’s were talking so we paid a friendly visit to Anne’s farm for a braai. We went to see (and feed) little piglets, saw calves been fed and went to the rabbits. The barn cats had had kittens – so cute! By this stage, Anne’s brother had the fire ready and it was food time – YUM! Good company, good food (Anne did fish that she had caught), good (relaxing) times and suddenly it was 8pm :) So we reluctantly started getting ready to leave when Anne offered us a ride on her brothers motorbike. Only Alex and I were brave enough to go – but such fun. Then it really was time to leave and hit the big smoke again ;(
Pics can be found at: http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/BackToTheBeginning?authkey=Gv1sRgCPf_hcDp9t7imQE#