September 20: Out of Africa

We were pretty tired, but we had a day in Johannesburg, so we hired a guide and away we went. She took us to some historical sights in and around Joburg.

The first stop Maropeng, the cradle of humankind heritage site. It is an interactive museum, much like the Museum of Natural History in Regina, but with a focus on the beginning and evolution of the human race. Most of the early human fossils have been found in South Africa, and in particular around this area. We spent time in the museum, then went to the nearby Sterkfontain caves, where two of the earliest were found. They are known as Little Foot and Mrs Ples. We went underground into the caves, through some pretty narrow openings and saw where they were found and some modern excavation sights where current research is ongoing. It was very interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our final stop was in Pretoria, one of the capitals of SA, at the Voortrekker Museum. This museum chronicles the life and various migrations of the Voortrekkers, who were people of Dutch decent who had settled in SA, but weren’t keen on British rule. They headed out of Port Elizabeth and went north into the wild regions of South Africa. They faced many hardships including the geography, the climate, the animals, and most of all the various black tribes they encountered.This was a very impressive museum, and we wished we had had more time and energy to devote to it.

This was a new sign to us 🙂

But, we were on our 31st day of touring, and we were all pretty much toured out. We were anxious to get to the airport. We had an 11 hour overnight flight to London, a couple hour layover, then off to Portugal where the pace will slow down.

We have so many memories of Africa, and are very thankful to have had this amazing trip.