Treat Mom to a special day at one of our three Mother's Day lunch events.

You can dine at the stunning Tumulus Restaurant, enjoying the best view of the Magaliesberg landscape, or take her to the luxurious Maropeng Hotel overlooking a private game reserve. The Sterkfontein Caves Visitor Centre is also hosting a lunch event to celebrate our mothers.

Want to really pamper her? Take advantage of our Mother’s Day Accommodation Special, and spend a night or two in our four-star Maropeng Hotel.

But May is not just about mothers. Other hard-working people also get a chance to relax on May 1, Worker’s Day. Come join us for a fabulous carvery lunch, and enjoy a short break from the rat race.

The Maropeng Hotel is hosting this month's Stargazing event, in conjunction with a Stargazing Accommodation Special. Read more on the website or below.

Read about these offers and events on our calendar. Click here to make a booking online.

Join Maropeng’s resident astronomer, Vincent Nettmann, on a journey through the night sky on May 23, 2009.

The theme for this month’s Stargazing evening is “You are here: A brief journey through the time and space of our Universe”.

Enjoy an informative overview of astronomy, presented by our resident astronomer in his own unique style. These presentations are always highly "edutaining".

This event will be hosted by the Maropeng Hotel and includes welcome drinks and a three-course set menu for R295.

If you are attending the Stargazing, why not take advantage of our accommodation special?

The dates of the Stargazing events for the rest of the year are as follows:

June 13 – Our winter skies
July 11 – Journey to the moon
August 22 – Explore the Milky Way
September 19 – Jupiter and Galileo
October 17 – Living amongst the stars
November 14 – An introduction to our summer skies

A range of large-aperture telescopes will be available to guests. Make sure you
dress warmly as these evenings can get very cold.

Click here to make a booking online.

Did you know?

• One in five species of living organism is a beetle
• The largest insect that ever lived was larger than a pigeon and had a wing span of up to 71 cm (28 in)
• The oldest insect that we have fossil records of is about 400-million years old

Maropeng opened a new exhibition on April 16, 2009. On display in the Original Fossil Exhibition at the Maropeng Visitor Centre is a variety of fossilised insects from Southern Africa.

The fossils include early cockroaches found in the Karoo, well-preserved insects found at the Orapa diamond mine in Botswana, and even fly larvae found alongside hominid fossils in the Cradle of Humankind.

Maropeng Marketing Manager Erica Saunders said, “What I find interesting is that there are so many species of insects and yet they are given so little attention. They play a huge role in our lives, it’s silly that we pay them so little attention or respect. We are so quick to just stand on them. Some of these fossils are over 400-million years old. How do you even relate to that? It’s so interesting.”

Members of the local media were invited to have a preview of the exhibition on Wednesday, April 15.

“It’s so interesting – something you don’t hear about every day, something completely different. I think a lot of people will come to see the exhibition,” said Leshe Luus, a writer from Magaliesberg-based newspaper Voorstoep. “It’s an absolute must!”

Dr Ian McKay, co-ordinator for the School of Geosciences Programme at Wits University, was on hand to answer their questions and guide them through the exhibits.

“I’m quite interested to see how members of the public will react, especially kids. I hope that people take time to look through the lenses and see the details of the insects,” said Dr McKay.

The exhibition will run until the end of July. Entrance to the Original Fossil Exhibition is included in the ticket price for the Visitor Centre.

Maropeng's stunning architecture and landscape draws in the media

Maropeng has featured prominently in local and national media recently. The dramatic building that houses the visitor centre has caught the attention of many location scouts, and most recently formed the backdrop for a photoshoot with local musician Lira in an Audi Magazine spread.

An extract from the article reads: “The photo shoot is taking place at Maropeng in the Cradle of Humankind, a World Heritage Site that celebrates the journey of humanity. It is the perfect place for talking to the beautiful Lira about her journey—from a talented teenager to one of South Africa’s most popular artists.”

Sales and Marketing Assistant Sylvia Makgetla, pictured above with Lira at the photoshoot, said, “Meeting Lira was an amazing and an encouraging experience. She is an example of one of my life's beliefs – that you give the world the greatest gift by being you, and not forgetting where you come from while you focus on where you want to be.”

National Geographic, SABC and ETV are other examples of media that have recently visited Maropeng for photoshoots and filming.

Above photo (left) courtesy Wayne Mitchell and Audi Magazine.

The Maropeng marketplace area (which forms part of the Maropeng Visitor Centre) was an official IEC voting station in the national and provincial elections on April 22, 2009.

Residents of the surrounding Magaliesberg area made their mark in the spirit of democracy, and Maropeng was happy to play a supporting role in the process.

Continuing our series of staff profiles published on the site, we have published a profile on the assistant food and beverage manager at Maropeng, Peter Mhanaza.

Below is an extract from the article:

One day, three years ago, Peter Mhanaza stood in a queue with 600 people at Sterkfontein Caves for five hours, waiting to be interviewed. As the queue got shorter, Peter became more anxious. “It was nerve-racking but worth it because I got the job,” he says.

Peter is the assistant food and beverage manager at Maropeng. He has been working at the Cradle of Humankind for three years and has risen quickly and successfully through a variety of positions.

Read the full profile. You can also read more staff profiles here.

Maropeng recently hosted a workshop of national and provincial learning coordinators in order to propose updates to the Maropeng FET resources pack.

FET stands for Further Education and Training and incorporates grades 10, 11 and 12. Maropeng also offers packs for younger scholars. The packs are carefully integrated with the South African education curriculum, and have been endorsed by the National Department of Education.

Learners at any level will be able to engage with appropriate content in the exhibitions, but the packs do focus specifically on the following learning areas: Life Sciences, Tourism, Geography, History, Mathematical Literacy, Life Orientation, Economics and Languages.

The new pack is expected to be available from September, and further details of how to obtain a pack will be given closer to the time.

Read more about Maropeng and Education on our website.