World Heritage Sites in South Africa and why to visit them

By Roxanne Reid
​Some places have exceptional universal value, whether in terms of their cultural or natural significance. Giving them protection status is a way to foster their preservation for generations to come. On the tip of Africa is a country rich in places that deserve such safeguards. Here are ten sites that have been inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in South Africa.

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Sadly, despite all ten of these sites being inscribed on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites between 1999 and 2018, four have not yet been declared national heritage sites in South Africa itself. They are the Vredefort Dome (inscribed 2005), Richtersveld Cultural & Botanical Landscape (2007), Khomani Cultural Landscape (2017) and Barberton Makhonjwa Mountains (2018). If South Africa is to properly preserve these important sites so our children and grandchildren can appreciate them, the next logical and urgent step is to lobby to make sure that they are declared national heritage sites.

Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape (cultural)

Local women building a traditional matjieshuis (photo: Pieter van Wyk)

The dry mountain desert of north-western South Africa's Richtersveld is more than an area of impressive landscapes, plants and geology; it is also where you will still find semi-nomadic Nama shepherds. For more than 2000 years they have built traditional rush-mat houses (matjieshuise) and moved their sheep and goats to different stock posts with the seasons. This way of life, which persists today, has helped preserve the succulents of the area, showing harmony between man and nature.

The three Nama villages in the community area are Kuboes, Lekkersing and Eksteenfontein. Stay over in the villages to experience the culture, the stories, the Namastap dancing, then explore the Ai-Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park's glorious desert mountain landscapes in your 4x4.

More about the Richtersveld
Where: Northern Cape

Khomani Cultural Landscape (cultural)

Khomani San man with traditional bow and arrow (photo: Kalahari Red Dune Route)

The Khomani Cultural Landscape coincides with the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park on the border between northern South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. Here the red sand has been occupied since the Stone Age. Today the Khomani San still live in this harsh semi-desert area, although they are no longer nomadic. Their ability to track and hunt animals is legendary, as is their knowledge of the food and medicinal value of plants of the Kalahari.

Enjoy a cultural experience with the San, stop and chat to people selling their age-old crafts on the way to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, and explore the park itself to better understand where and how the Khomani San lived in times past.

More about the Kalahari
Where: Northern Cape

Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape (cultural)

The Interpretive Centre at Mapungubwe National Park is well worth a visit

Mapungubwe National Park lies in the far north of South Africa, where the Limpopo and Shashe rivers meet and you can peer over baobabs into Botswana or watch eagles soar over Zimbabwe. This is the oldest known kingdom in southern Africa, older even than Great Zimbabwe. Archaeological treasures found in the area show that the people who lived here between 900 and 1300 AD were part of a powerful state that traded with Egypt, India and China through Islamic traders on the east coast. Gold artefacts excavated here (like a golden one-horned rhino) are part of South Africa's finest Iron Age legacy. Mapungubwe was once the most important inland settlement in Africa, a place where the kings lived on top of the mountain, apart from the commoners in the valley below. 

Don't miss a tour to Mapungubwe Hill and a visit to the stylish Visitor Interpretive Centre at Mapungubwe National Park for an insight into the heritage of the area.

More about Mapungubwe
Where: Limpopo

Robben Island (cultural)

Robben Island from the air (photo: NAC Makana )

Prison, leper colony, military base, Robben Island in Cape Town's Table Bay was all of these between the 17th and 20th centuries. What remains today are old quarries, the 18th century tomb of Hadije Kramat, 19th century buildings like a chapel and parsonage, a lighthouse and some military structures that hark back to World War II. Perhaps most famous of all is the bleak prison where Nelson Mandela and many political activists and freedom fighters spent time during apartheid. Mandela later became the first democratically elected president of South Africa.

Today, you can tour the island to see sites like the leper graveyard, a lime quarry, the army and navy bunkers and the prison. The tour, conducted by ex-prisoners who tell their personal stories, ends with a visit to the cell where Mandela stayed.

More about Robben Island
Where: Table Bay, Western Cape

Fossil Hominid Sites of the Cradle of Humankind (cultural)

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The Cradle of Humankind, about a 90-minute drive from Johannesburg, is where about 40% of all the human ancestor fossils in the world have been discovered, including Mrs Ples and Little Foot. Places to visit include the Sterkfontein caves and the Makapan Valley where the Taung Skull (Australopithecus africanus) was found. Other early hominid fossils of the area include Paranthropus, which dates back 4.5 million to 2.5 million years.

The Maropeng Visitor Information Centre is a good place to start your heritage exploration. More adventurous activities in the area include water sports and ziplines.

More about the Cradle of Humankind
Where: Gauteng and North-West

Cape Floral Region Protected Areas (natural)

Fynbos of the Cape Floral Kingdom

Table Mountain on the south-western tip of Africa, one of the world’s most famous landmarks, forms part of a national park that is home to the Cape Floral Kingdom. Of the world's six floral kingdoms, this is the smallest and most diverse for its size. It includes forests, wilderness areas and nature reserves, covering a wide swathe of the Western Cape and spilling over its borders. It is one of the world's biodiversity hotspots, which takes up less than 0.5% of the continent of Africa but is home to an astonishing 20% of its plants. Nearly a third of them occur nowhere else on earth.

Exploring the mountains of the Cape will bring you into contact with this natural heritage, or visit Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town for easy access to some of its fynbos wonders.

More about the Cape Floral Kingdom
Where: Western, Northern and Eastern Cape

Vredefort Dome (natural)

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Vredefort Dome near Parys, about 120km from Johannesburg, is a crater made by a meteorite impact. It is about 300km wide, the biggest crater geologists have found on earth and nearly twice as big as the impact that killed off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. The explosion was millions of times more powerful than the biggest atomic bomb ever made. It's also the oldest crater, dating back 2023 million years. The Vredefort Dome is only the central part of the impact crater. The middle to upper zones of the earth's crust have been exposed in the surrounding area.

Apart from guided geotrails, activities in the area include sky-diving, abseiling, canoeing, white-water rafting and fishing.

More about the Vredefort Dome
Where: Free State and North-West

iSimangaliso Wetland Park (natural)

Vast bodies of water are a feature of Isimangaliso Wetland Park

iSimangaliso is 3 280 square kilometres of natural ecosystems on the northern KwaZulu-Natal coast. It's a place of pristine beaches, coastal dunes, estuaries, lakes, swamps, ocean and coral reefs. It stretches 220km from Maphelane in the south to Kosi Bay on the border with Mozambique in the north and includes habitats for a range of marine, wetland and savannah species. Discover 700-year-old fishing traditions and 25 000-year-old dunes, see more than 520 bird species like flamingos, animals like the Big Five, hippos and crocs, as well as nesting turtles.

Go snorkelling or scuba diving to explore the coral reefs and colourful underwater life. Game drives, horse riding and kayaking are just some of the other adventures you can have in the area.

More about iSimangaliso
Where: KwaZulu-Natal

Barberton Makhonjwa Mountains (natural)

Rest site on the Barberton Makhonjwa Geotrail (photo: Barberton Makhonjwa Mountains World Heritage Site)

This site in Mpumalanga is South Africa's youngest UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed in July 2018. The Barberton Makhonjwa Mountains include 40% of the Barberton Greenstone Belt, which is one of the world's oldest geological structures. Here you will find well-preserved volcanic and sedimentary rock that dates back 3.6 billion years, which is when the first continents were just beginning to form. There is also evidence of the impact of meteorites from 4.6 to 3.8 billion years ago.

One of the best things to do here is to drive the 37km Barberton Makhonjwa Geotrail on the R40 between Barberton and eSwatini (Swaziland), stopping at the 11 lay-byes to read the geological info panels.

More about the Barberton Makhonjwa Mountains
Where: Mpumalanga

Maluti-Drakensberg Park (mixed: cultural and natural)

Jagged peaks are a feature of the Maluti-Drakensberg Park

The Maluti-Drakensberg Park covers 14 740 square kilometres of the mountains between Lesotho and South Africa, including uKhahlamba-Drakensberg National Park in South Africa and Sehlathebe National Park in Lesotho. It is a landscape of spectacular beauty, massive basalt peaks and buttresses, sandstone cliffs and caves, forests, grasslands and burbling rivers. Find endangered species like the bearded vulture, many endangered fish species, and some 250 endemic plant species, including almost all the remaining subalpine and alpine vegetation in KwaZulu-Natal. It is a place of cultural significance too, with one of the most concentrated groups of San rock paintings in Africa; there are more than 600 known sites containing up to 40 000 individual images.

One of the best activities to enjoy here is hiking along the numerous trails, keeping your eyes out for birds and ducking into caves to explore the rock art.

More about the Maluti-Drakensberg Park
Where: KwaZulu-Natal/Lesotho

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