Kromdraai Conservancy is a protected conservation park located to the south-west of
Gauteng
Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'.
Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...
province in north-east
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
. It is in the
Muldersdrift
Muldersdrift, in the Gauteng Province of South Africa, is a picturesque rural area situated 27 km north-west of the CBD of Johannesburg, between Johannesburg and the Magaliesberg mountain range. The area falls under the West Rand District ...
area not far from
Krugersdorp.
Etymology
Its name is derived from
Afrikaans
Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gr ...
meaning "Crooked Turn" after a kink in the meandering
Crocodile River.
History
It was established to protect the
caves, old
gold mines,
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
sites,
trout farm and a
game reserve in the area. The caves in the area, known as the
Sterkfontein caves have an extensive number of fossils and
dolomite Dolomite may refer to:
*Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral
*Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock
*Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community
*Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...
cave
A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...
rns. A well known fossil site is also named
Kromdraai and it, along with such sites as
Sterkfontein,
,
Swartkrans and
Plovers Lake form part of the conservancy. Part of the Kromdraai conservancy also falls within the
Cradle of Humankind
The Cradle of Humankind is a paleoanthropological site and is located about northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, in the Gauteng province. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999, the site is home to the largest concentration of h ...
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...
, proclaimed by
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...
in 1998.
Places of interest
*
Wonder Cave
*
Sterkfontein
See also
*
Kromdraai, Limpopo
*
Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve, Kromdraai
References
External links
Official Website of the Cradle of Humankind
Protected areas of Gauteng
Mogale City Local Municipality
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