The Grade 6 pupils at the Deutsche Schule were given the opportunity to get some insight into the world of caves on the Career Day held at their school recently.
Maximilian van Heerden, a Grade 6 pupil, organised the day with the help of his mother Tania van Heerden. The idea stemmed from his recent visit to the Sterkfontein Caves. “I really enjoyed my visit to the caves, it was really nice and I liked my tour guide, Danny, so I wanted to share it with my school. One day I would like to become a tour guide,” said Maximilian.
Danny Kgelegi, Maximilian’s tour guide, spoke to about 60 eager-to-learn pupils about the Sterkfontein Caves and the discoveries made by scientists over the past years. They learnt about fossils, rocks and openings within a cave. He spoke about some of the famous finds like Little Foot, Homo Naledi and Mrs Ples.
“Mrs Ples, is a 2.1-million-year-old Australopithecus skull, and Little Foot, is an almost complete Australopithecus skeleton is more than 3-million years old. These fossils were both found in the Sterkfontein Caves in the Cradle of Humankind,” explained Kgelegi.
He encouraged the pupils to visit the caves but also made mention that in some areas they would have to crawl, slide, or duck in order to get through the small openings in the caves. “There are lots of stairs to climb to get into the cave and out of the cave, so make sure you are fit,” joked Kgelegi.
Luise Granig, a biology teacher at the school, commended the Kgelegi for offering some insight into the Sterkfontein Caves and what they have to offer. “I, myself, learnt from the talk and the pupils did too, some still came to me after the talk to find out if we could go as a school to the visit the caves,” she said.
Kgelegi said, “Talking to the children was such a great experience and they are very smart. Going forward I would love to visit more schools to encourage pupils to visit the caves and to improve their marks in biology, science, maths and geography.”
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