It started out much like other safaris. We piled into an open 4X4 safari vehicle with four rows of tiered seats and headed out into the bush. A few moments into the drive we encountered a wildebeest. We stopped and looked, as it looked back at us. Then we moved on.
Our guide, who was driving, told us, “It’s hard to compete with the Big Five.” There are no lions on the 47,000-hectare reserve known as the Cradle of Humankind. Only a 45-minute drive from Johannesburg, it’s not surprising that some of the larger, more charismatic wildlife have moved farther into the wilderness. There are leopards and waterbucks, and many other kinds of fascinating animals and plants, but this is not about the Big Five. What it has is something no one else in the world has: the oldest hominid fossils so far discovered on Earth. That is, fossil remains of primates extinct or living that are closely related to modern human beings.
This was a different kind of safari, an adventure exploring paleontology and human origins at the Cradle of Humankind, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The discovery of the earliest known human ancestors is one more step in an ongoing expansion of our understanding of the history of our own species. Some other paleo-anthropological discovery may supersede this one. But each one is exciting for those scientists who are always pushing these boundaries to the next level.
Significant discoveries made there include “Little Foot”, Homo naledi and Australopithecus sediba. The Malapa fossil site has produced one of the most complete assemblages of early human ancestors, and the most complete skeletons of early hominids yet discovered. The initial discoveries that gave Maropeng its present status were made in 1999. And although an unprecedented haul of fossils has already been drawn from the site, active digs are going on right now. We were there on a Sunday, and the diggers were not digging. So we had the place to ourselves as we toured around.
A beautiful new lodge, the Cradle Boutique Hotel, opened in February 2023. It provides a comfortable environment for visitors. We had refreshments at the hotel restaurant as we were waiting to meet our guide.
One look at our guide and you could tell there was nothing ordinary about this man. Howard Geach, of aah-africa tours & transfers, seemed like a mature version of Indiana Jones, slowed down from the early days, but still a swashbuckler in spirit. He wore shades and a Panama hat, a loose army-style shirt and khakis, and carried a walking stick, which he used more as a prop or a pointer than for walking. It was all part of his vintage cool wilderness style, which spoke of experience and authority.
A lifetime native of Johannesburg, Howard worked 10 years as a mining engineer, so he knows about digging, and understands the kinship between mining and fossil hunting. Some of the important fossil discoveries have been accidental by-products of mining.
With Howard at the wheel giving us an ongoing monologue, we headed out into the bush. He took us to a high plateau where you could see to great distances 360 degrees around. He stopped the jeep and got out, and launched into his explanation for why it’s such a unique place, and a perfect place for the emergence of humankind on earth.
From that vantage point, he pointed toward Johannesburg, which could be seen on the horizon, and Durban, which could not, and some other places. You could survey the whole country from there, at least in theory. It was a good vantage point from which to tell his story.
“I’ll start my story at 4.6 billion years ago,” he said. “That is when our solar system formed around what is a third-generation sun. And a number of happy things happened to earth, to make it capable of hosting the evolution of life, and eventually the evolution of us.”
By then he had me. I was listening.
“We formed 150 million kilometers from the sun,” he said, “and as the fusion reaction warmed up, we found ourselves in the Goldilocks zone, not too hot and not too cold, just right.
“We formed in a mass that generates a gravitational field strong enough to hold the atmosphere and liquid water on the surface. Rocky planets of our size seem to have solid inner cores and a liquid outer core. And as we spin that outer core generates a magnetic field which protects us from the solar wind. Otherwise, we’d all be fried.”
He took out a cigarette and lit it, took a deep drag, blew it out, and continued.
“All of these are important building blocks,” he said. “Then at 4.5 billion years, we got struck by a Mars-size object called the planet Theia that knocked an enormous amount of material off the surface of the earth. That initially formed an asteroid belt. Then under gravity, it consolidated to form the moon.”
The formation of the moon was, “a very happy accident,” he said,
“The moon holds us steady at 22 and a half to 23 degrees on our axis, giving rise to predictable seasons and predictable tides. Had we not had that accident we could be like Mars. Mars can swivel up to 60 degrees on its axis in unpredictable directions. So we could find ourselves at the South Pole one year and in the middle of the Sahara the next. I exaggerate, but the point is made.”
As the earth cooled the green stones started to solidify. They began to rise up out of the primordial sea and sink back. Howard pointed again across the landscape.
“That group of hills over there,” he said, “called Zwartkop or Black Mountain, is a green stone outcrop. Around 3.4 billion years ago, the continental cratons started to solidify and form the ‘basement granites’ for what would eventually rise to the surface to become the first land masses on what was then an ocean planet.”
The very first of the cratons to stabilize 3.1 billion years ago and rise up out of the sea to form the first permanent terrestrial landmass was right there within our view.
“Those rolling plains of northern Johannesburg are the exposed basement granites of the Kaapvaal craton,” he said. “You are looking at the oldest piece of real estate in existence.”
Then he pointed in another direction. “That low ridge line to the south of us is the northernmost edge of the Witwatersrand supergroup, one of the oldest undistorted sedimentary basins you can see anywhere in the world, 2.8 billion years old. And in the layers of the Wit system is the world’s single biggest deposit of gold.
“We have mined some 50,000 tons of gold out of there in the last 130 years and what’s left is still the world’s single biggest deposit of gold. There are at least 35,000 tons still in there.”
From there, turning 180 degrees to the north he pointed out another ridgeline.
“Those are the Magaliesberg Mountains,” he said, “one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world, 2.3 billion years old. That’s 100 times older than Mount Everest. It’s the southern geological marker for the bushveld igneous complex, the biggest single deposit of platinum group metals. By standing here and turning 180 degrees you can see the edge of the world’s two biggest precious metals deposits.”
And sandwiched between them is the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999, which has produced the world’s biggest collection of the fossilized remains of our ancient hominid life ever.
Howard took us on a tour of some of the dig sites including one inside a cavern, all to the accompaniment of his monologue. It gave us a lot to think about. Howard recommended a good book for following up on the story. It’s called Cradle of Life: The Story of the Magaliesberg and the Cradle of Humankind by Vincent Carruthers.
To surf along with his wild thought processes was a heady experience, exhilarating in a quiet way. It was thinking on a vaster scale than anything I had thought of before. It expanded my view of the world, as it would for most people, I suppose.
The researchers who are out there digging in the dirt are on the brink of their own Brave New World in their disciplines. For them the ongoing investigation is hugely exciting. But even if you’re not a paleo-anthropologist, the excitement is contagious, because no one is outside this inquiry. It’s about all of us. It’s about who we are, where we came from.
It was a great example of how travel can expand the mind, showing you things you didn’t know you didn’t know. And now anyone can participate. For more information, check with South African Tourism.
David Cogswell is a freelance writer working remotely, from wherever he is at the moment. Born at the dead center of the United States during the last century, he has been incessantly moving and exploring for decades. His articles have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Fox News, Luxury Travel Magazine, Travel Weekly, Travel Market Report, Travel Agent Magazine, TravelPulse.com, Quirkycruise.com, and other publications. He is the author of four books and a contributor to several others. He was last seen somewhere in the Northeast US.
