Independent guide. This is not the Sterkfontein Caves' website.
Cradle of Humankind · Gauteng
Scientists spent about 20 years excavating, cleaning and rebuilding this Sterkfontein skeleton, the most complete early hominin yet found.
Duck under the low rock in your helmet and the air stays a steady 20°C, whatever the Highveld is doing above you.
Why Sterkfontein
In 1994 Ronald Clarke was going through boxes of mixed fossils from a miner's dump when he picked out four small foot bones. Three years later, Stephen Motsumi and Nkwane Molefe found the rest of that individual still in the rock of the Silberberg Grotto. Excavating, cleaning and rebuilding it took about 20 years. Wits now calls Little Foot the most complete early hominin skeleton yet found.
Robert Broom and John Robinson took Mrs Ples out of the rock here on 18 April 1947. It is one of the best-known skulls of an early human relative, and it still raises arguments. Studies disagree on whether it was female or male, and a 2022 dating study pushed its age back by about a million years.
Lime miners blasted their way in from 1896, and the research that followed began in 1936. It is still going. In the laboratory above ground, you can watch fossils being cleaned and catalogued. In the walkways over the excavation, you look straight down at the deposits that produced them.
The way down
The caves' guides set the pace and the exact route. This is the rough shape of a visit, drawn from Wits's own description and other published accounts.
Which parts are open on your day is for the caves' own website to say. Wits advises phoning on the day to confirm tours are running.
At the surface
A paved path drops between boulders to the cave mouth. You wear a helmet, because the ceilings are low in places. Handbags and luggage stay behind.
First chambers
The rock around you formed about 2.5 billion years ago. Stairs and narrow passages lead on, and the air settles at about 20°C.
Further in
These caverns held the bones of early hominins and of giant baboons, long-legged hyenas and sabre-tooth cats. You can see fossils still set in the rock.
The water
The tour passes still, dark water. Divers tried to measure it in 1984, and its full depth is still not known. Diving is no longer allowed.
Back up
One local account counts 211 steps on the way out. Above ground, walkways lead out over the open excavation.
Above ground
Technicians and students clean real fossils in the preparation laboratory. Next door stands one of only two full casts of the Little Foot skeleton.
Tours with pickup
All three collect you and list Sterkfontein Caves as a stop. None is a plain cave ticket, because none was on sale on GetYourGuide on 6 November 2026. More bookings around the Cradle sit below them.
A driver-guide collects you from your address. You visit Sterkfontein Caves and the Maropeng Visitor Centre, with all entrance fees included. Lunch is extra.
Most people without a car. Not suitable for anyone with claustrophobia.
See dates ↗A guide and car from Sandton or Pretoria, about 1.5 hours at each site, and entry tickets for both. Guides speak French or English. Food is extra.
Visitors based in the north, and French speakers. Not for people with mobility impairments.
See dates ↗A full day: an open-vehicle safari at a lion park, a 1-hour tour underground at Sterkfontein and a visit to Maropeng. Lunch is extra.
People who want wildlife in the same day. Not for anyone with back problems or claustrophobia.
See dates ↗Plain entry and current details: the caves' own website
| Option | What it books | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Cave and Maropeng guided tour, 5 hours | A driver-guide collects you from your address. You visit Sterkfontein Caves and the Maropeng Visitor Centre, with all entrance fees included. Lunch is extra. | Most people without a car. Not suitable for anyone with claustrophobia. |
| Cave and Maropeng tour from Sandton or Pretoria, 4 to 8 hours | A guide and car from Sandton or Pretoria, about 1.5 hours at each site, and entry tickets for both. Guides speak French or English. Food is extra. | Visitors based in the north, and French speakers. Not for people with mobility impairments. |
| Lion park, cave and Maropeng, 9 hours | A full day: an open-vehicle safari at a lion park, a 1-hour tour underground at Sterkfontein and a visit to Maropeng. Lunch is extra. | People who want wildlife in the same day. Not for anyone with back problems or claustrophobia. |
| Plain cave entry | Sold by Wits on the caves' own website and on site. No transport, and no booking on this site. | Anyone with a car who wants only the cave. |
Open the booking calendar for the cave and Maropeng tour ↗
More to book around the Cradle of Humankind
Status and basics
Yes, as of 6 November 2026. The caves' own website listed tours with no closure notice, and tours were on sale through the end of December. Flood damage closed the site from early 2023 until 15 April 2025, and older pages still say it is shut.
Plan the visit
Wits sells entry on the caves' own website and on site, at its own prices. GetYourGuide had no cave-only ticket on 6 November 2026. The tours here are guided trips with pickup. This site sells no tickets.
The caves run no tours on Mondays, and Wits lists them as closed on 25 and 31 December. A tour booked on a closed day cannot take you underground, so pick another date.
Closed-toe, non-slip shoes, because it can be wet and slippery. Nothing loose. Helmets are required. A light layer is enough at about 20°C.
Wits advises against the cave for claustrophobia, acute asthma or mobility issues. The caves are not wheelchair accessible. The museum, laboratory and Timeline Walk are.
It is a different site a short drive away, with its own tickets, open every day from 09:00 to 16:00. The three tours here include both.
Some Cradle of Humankind tours visit Wonder Cave at Kromdraai rather than Sterkfontein. If you want the fossil cave, check the stops before you pay.
Sterkfontein in pictures
Light through the rock, still water, and the grassland above it all. Mrs Ples and the Little Foot bones are shown on display.
Getting there How to get to Sterkfontein Caves from Johannesburg Car, private transfer or guided tour: how to reach the caves on Kromdraai Road, how long the drive takes, and how to time it against the tour hours. Read the guide → Inside the caves What to see inside Sterkfontein Caves The guided walk underground, the lake, the excavation, the working fossil laboratory and the Little Foot cast: what a visit holds, in the order it usually runs. Read the guide → No. Cradle of Humankind Guide is an independent guide, not affiliated with the caves, the University of the Witwatersrand or Maropeng. The booking buttons here open GetYourGuide.
Yes, as of 6 November 2026. On that date the caves' own website listed tours Tuesday to Sunday with no closure notice, and tours were on sale through the end of December. Wits advises phoning on the day to confirm.
Heavy rain in December 2022 caused serious flood damage. The site closed in early 2023 and reopened on 15 April 2025. Older pages may still say the caves are shut.
From Wits University, which runs the caves, on the caves' own website or on site. The caves set their own prices. This site sells no tickets.
Not on 6 November 2026. GetYourGuide's Cradle of Humankind page lists guided tours that include entry, not a plain cave ticket. For entry alone, go to the caves' own website.
All three tours here list Sterkfontein Caves as a stop, and the first two state that cave entry is in the price. The caves run no tours on Mondays, so book another day. Some other Cradle tours visit Wonder Cave instead, so read the stops before you pay.
No. Sterkfontein is the fossil cave, run by Wits. Maropeng is a separate visitor centre a short drive away, with separate tickets. All three tours here include both.
It has many stairs, narrow passages and places where you crouch, and it can be wet and slippery. Wits advises against it for people with claustrophobia, acute asthma or mobility issues. The caves are not wheelchair accessible.
Not at the caves. Mrs Ples is held in Pretoria and Little Foot at Wits in Johannesburg. The site shows one of only two full casts of the Little Foot skeleton.
Tour prices here are per person in US dollars, as read on 6 November 2026. GetYourGuide shows the current price in your currency.