Today, my second full day here, I got a private tour guide and we spent the best part of the day going to two nearby sites; The Cradle of Mankind and the Ann Dyk Cheetah Rehabilitation Center.  The Cradle of Mankind is a huge area of some 27,000 hectares that is protected as a World Heritage Site.  It is here that fossil remains have been found dating back millions of years and it is here that is accepted as the origin of humans on this planet.  The tour included a small museum of area artifacts; the best part was going into the cave where the most meaningful remains have been uncovered.  I do love caves; this was not a pretty cave although there was evidence of stalactites and stalagmites, but these had been broken off long ago by miners.  This was a cave of significance and there was a feeling of long ago incidents that trapped animals and led to their deaths and a feeling of cultural discovery; it all started here after all.  There were 3 places that required some unique moves - picture me doing a bear walk and a crab walk through openings about a meter square each for about 3 or 4 meters in length; not a pretty sight I'm sure, but everyone else was pretty busy themselves and I'm sure there is no video clips to be posted.  Then there were the stairs; seems every cave I've been to starts with an uphill walk to a small opening, then descending stairs/a path into the depths.  In this case there were 66 steps down into the cave.  The floor of the cave had rubber mats to mark the humans pathway, but the ground was very uneven so I took care with each step.  At the end we had to climb over 200 stairs to make our way out, but that was pretty easy.  We took a 10 minute stroll back to the car park to finish it up. 

The Cheetah Center has been running for about 40 years and Ann , age 83, is still active in its running.  We saw 4 cheetahs who for various reasons would spend the rest of their days at the center.  Ann and her staff also care for vultures, hyenas and wild dogs.  It was all very interesting information.  Can't wait to see these animals in the wild where they belong.  

All for now.