WATCH: Inside the caves of our ancestors at the Cradle Boutique Hotel  

On a cold, windy Friday morning The Citizen headed off to the Cradle Boutique Hotel, a spectacular 9 000-hectare nature reserve just outside of Johannesburg.

The itinerary merely listed our activities for the day as a game drive and lunch, so we were pleasantly surprised upon our arrival to learn that live animals were not the only things we’ll be viewing that day.

We were going to the property’s two world famous active fossil dig sites Gladysvale and Malapa.

Professor Lee Berger found two Australopithecus africanus teeth at Gladysvale in 1992, but after finding nothing else there he moved areas. In 2008, his young son inadvertently found bones from Australopithecus sediba at the Malapa site, and in 2013, two cavers – Rick Hunter and Steven Tucker, found what became a massive collection of bones belonging to Homo Naledi.

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Our knowledgeable guide for the day, Grant Egan, charmingly ushered us into the game viewer as we only had about two hours to discover the origins of our ancestors.

We, unfortunately, didn’t get to meet Dr Keneiloe Molopyane, the principal investigator at the Gladysvale fossil excavation site. But Grant did take us into the cave where she and her team are digging for more hominid fossils.

Watch the video below to see our tour of the cave:

So, you might be asking yourself what happens after fossils have been found in the rocks?

Well, they are taken to the Malapa Museum – which sits adjacent to the Cradle Boutique Hotel, where the ‘bones’ are meticulously drilled from the rocks. It can take up to 4 months to drill a small piece of bone from one of these rocks.

The museum is sponsored by National Geographic, the Cradle Nature Reserve and the Lee R Berger Foundation for Exploration.

Here visitors can learn about the geological origins of the region and gain a deeper understanding of the three-million-year fossil bearing history of this wilderness situated at the heart of the World Heritage site. 

Visitors will also learn about such famous fossils as Australopithecus sediba. They will also view reconstructions of the ancestor of wild dogs, false sabre tooth cats, and giant hyena’s that once roamed the dolomitic hills of the highveld and whose fossils have been found in the caves of the region. 

With films, interactive displays, dioramas and reconstructions of the landscape and animals of the past, the Malapa Museum Experience is a not to be missed introduction to our deep human journey.

Dining and staying at The Cradle Restaurant

CEO of the Cradle Boutique Hotel, Kobus Botha hosted us for lunch at The Cradle Restaurant where he spoke about the hotel and restaurant.

The Cradle Boutique Hotel has 31 rooms on the 9 000-hectare estate. Kobus says the major attraction for them is the fact that they are in close proximity to both Johannesburg and Pretoria.

While you feel as if you are in the middle of the Kruger National Park with the beautiful landscapes surrounding the property, Kobus says they are not promoting the Cradle Boutique Hotel as a big five destination.

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“We don’t have the Big 5, but we do have beautiful game and of course, the major attraction here is the paleoanthropological digging sites undertaken by Professor Lee Burger and his scientists.”

Kobus says their guests are typically those looking for a quick escape from the rat race in the city.

If you don’t want to spend the night in one of their sky rooms complete with wood burning hot tubs, you should definitely not miss the opportunity to have lunch at the restaurant.

The new head chef, Tyrow Power, has some mad culinary skills and we were thoroughly impressed with the delicious and flavourful Teriyaki Pork Belly. The generous portion of grilled pork belly set on a crown of sweet potato Dauphinoise was accompanied with apple and coconut velouté garnished with a Pak Choi and spring onion salsa.

Other items on the lunch menu include lemon butter prawns and kingklip, traditional red wine braised oxtail as well as a butternut and almond ragout that is vegan friendly.

For dinner guests can dine from a different menu and select a bottle of wine from the restaurant’s impressive wine list.

Visit www.cradlehotel.co.za for more information.