Choose your country and language:

Africa

  • Global
  • Angola
  • Botswana
  • DRC
  • Ethiopia
  • Ghana
  • Kenya
  • Malawi
  • Mozambique
  • Namibia
  • Nigeria
  • South Africa
  • Tanzania
  • Uganda
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe
  • shotLeft

Americas

  • USA
  • Argentina
  • Brazil

Asia Pacific

  • China
  • India
  • Japan
  • South Korea
  • Australia

Europe

  • France
  • Germany
  • Italy
  • Netherlands
  • United Kingdom
Back
South Africa
Adventure
Attractions
History
Family
Cape Town
Johannesburg
Durban
Nelspruit
Polokwane
Cultural Discoveries

SSouth Africa offers a variety of caves for you to explore, from hominid fossil sites to ancient San cave paintings. Experience the ringing sounds of one cave, then crawl through tunnels on your hands and knees in another!  

South Africa’s top 10 caves

Sterkfontein is the world's richest hominid fossil site and this is where you will find the Sterkfontein Caves, Cradle of Humankind, in Gauteng, part of the World Heritage Site where the world-famous early human remains of “Mrs Ples” and “Little Foot” were discovered.

The Cango Caves, near Oudtshoorn in the Western Cape, is one of the longest and largest cave systems in the world. Iced with spectacular dripstone formations, they can be explored via two routes through its 5.3km of tunnels—one on well-lit walkways and the other on your hands and knees on an adventure deep into the cavern. 

Did You Know?
KKlipgat Cave is the only freshwater cave along the coast of Africa.

SSudwala Caves, one of the oldest cave systems on earth can be found near Nelspruit in Mpumalanga. With a dolomite chamber measuring 70m in diameter and 37m in height, it has rock formations sculpted over aeons. Evidence of some of the earth’s oldest life forms has been found in its limestone.

Named after the ringing sound the rock formations inside the caves make when they are struck, the Echo Caves are found west of the Strydom Tunnel in Limpopo. It also boasts impressive stalactites and stalagmite formations, and a beautiful hall—the Crystal Palace.

FFor a short time, each day, sunlight pierces the darkness of Cathedral Cave to reveal brilliant stained-glass coloured lichens. The cave houses a colony of rare bald ibis and was a site of worship for the Basotho people. It is an enormous cavern measuring 250m in length and 50m in depth located in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park.

Believed to be 2.2-million years old, the Wonder Cave in Kromdraai, Gauteng, has impressive dripstone formations. It is also home to a bat colony. A favourite Gauteng spelunking spot, abseil into the cave then get down and dirty to explore its depths.

The world-famous archaeological site, Makapansgat in Mokopane, Limpopo, boasts several caves. Here numerous fossils of Australopithecus africanus, our Ape-man ancestor has been found. A tour of the site starts at the Arend Dieperink Museum.

VView dramatic scenery over the ocean and the Walker Bay Reserve from the Klipgat Cave. In Hermanus, in the Western Cape, middle-Stone Age artefacts, bone tools and human remains were found in the cave.  

Estimated to be 2.3-billion years old, the Wonderwerk Cave, in Kuruman, in the Northern Cape has San cave paintings dating back 10 000 years. Recently, man-made artefacts of at least two million years old were found.

For a quintessential, “Berg experience”, camp overnight in one of the 60 plus caves where camping is permitted in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park Mountain Range in KwaZulu-Natal. Many of the caves are rich in San rock art sites.

Related articles

Active adventure

uKhahlamba adventures, KwaZulu-Natal: mountains of fun in the Drakensberg

Active adventure
uKhahlamba adventures, KwaZulu-Natal: mountains of fun in the Drakensberg
The uKhahlamba-Drakensberg region offers breath-taking mountain views and adventures of note: hiking, rock-climbing, paragliding, mountain-biking, abseiling, ice-climbing, horse-riding and more.
Active adventure

Trail running in South Africa: off the beaten track… into Eden

Active adventure
Trail running in South Africa: off the beaten track… into Eden
South Africa has amazing trail-running terrain for visiting athletes, including mountains, forests, bushveld, beaches, savannahs and deserts – as well as some competitive runs to consider.
Active adventure

The Tsitsikamma Woodcutters’ Journey: explore a beautiful indigenous forest

Active adventure
The Tsitsikamma Woodcutters’ Journey: explore a beautiful indigenous forest
The Tsitsikamma Woodcutters’ Journey on the Garden Route in Western Cape takes you through pristine indigenous forests in one of South Africa’s most beautiful national parks.
Active adventure

Zipline in the Sabie River Valley: a fast and furious adventure in Mpumalanga province

Active adventure
Zipline in the Sabie River Valley: a fast and furious adventure in Mpumalanga province
Zipline through breath-taking Mpumalanga scenery with Induna Adventures in the Sabie River Valley on the Panorama Route – one of several exhilarating zip slide experiences on offer in South Africa.
Active adventure

The Overberg on horseback: exploring Western Cape from the saddle

Active adventure
The Overberg on horseback: exploring Western Cape from the saddle
South Africa’s Overberg region, where mountains, fynbos and strandveld descend spectacularly to the sea on the Whale Coast of Western Cape province, is a great spot to explore on horseback.
Wildlife safari

The Klein Karoo, Western Cape: beneath the arid exterior, hidden jewels, aeons old

Wildlife safari
The Klein Karoo, Western Cape: beneath the arid exterior, hidden jewels, aeons old
The Klein Karoo in Western Cape might be dry, but it offers unique plants, enthralling nature reserves, magnificent mountain vistas, its own wine route, ostrich farms and the world-famous Cango Caves.
Sun-soaked coasts

The Hunter-Gatherer Trail along the Garden Route: hike through the landscape of an ancient human heritage

Sun-soaked coasts
The Hunter-Gatherer Trail along the Garden Route: hike through the landscape of an ancient human heritage
Hike the Hunter-Gatherer Trail in Western Cape along the Garden Route to experience the landscape as humans did for tens of thousands of years, and you’ll know you’re in the Cradle of Human Culture.
Active adventure

The Freedom Trail: coast to coast on a mountain bike

Active adventure
The Freedom Trail: coast to coast on a mountain bike
The Freedom Trail is an exhilarating mountain-bike route from East Coast to West Coast in South Africa that runs through some of the most spectacular natural beauty the country has to offer.

South Africa on social media

Copyright © 2023 South African Tourism
|Terms and conditions|Disclaimer|Privacy policy