Maropeng is gearing up for the biggest sporting event on African soil with its fantastic pre-World Cup specials.

The Maropeng Hotel, with breathtaking views of the Witwatersberg and Magaliesberg ranges, is ideal as a romantic getaway, an executive stay, or for locals and tourists wanting to experience the finest hospitality Africa has to offer.

With 24 luxury appointed rooms it can sleep up to 48 guests, in supreme style and comfort.

The Maropeng pre-World Cup Accommodation special runs from May 23 to June 06, 2010.

To make a booking please click here.

Treat your dad to a scrumptious meal at Maropeng this coming Father’s Day.

The Tumulus Restaurant is offering an extensive buffet lunch, featuring salads with crispy Asian greens tossed with mozzarella and cocktail tomatoes, roast leg of pork with apple sauce, battered hake fillets, a medley of vegetables and Black Forest cake, among others, for dessert, all for just R165 for adults and R95 for children. To book a Tumulus Restaurant lunch for your family on Father’s Day, please click here.

The Maropeng Hotel has a mouth-watering menu planned, with a soup of the day, smoked trout tower, Cajun beef fillets, stuffed kingklip, carrot dynamites and grilled fruit kebabs, among other delicious treats. All these will be served at R210 for adults and R120 for children.

To book a Maropeng Hotel lunch outing for you and your family this Father’s Day, please click here.

What better place than home to enjoy the 2010 FIFA World Cup™? At Maropeng (“returning to the place of origin” in Tswana) we have a packed itinerary for all of our visitors, both local and international.

Are you African, Asian, European, North or South American? Are you adventurous, exploring other cultures and cuisines, or do you prefer the flavour of something a little closer to home?

Whoever you are and wherever you’re from, Maropeng can cater for your needs. Just for 11 June to 11 July, 2010 we’ve put together a menu with foods from around the world.

With Mexican Tarascan tomato soup as a starter; a choice of French Dijon rump steak, Thai chicken and prawn curry, or grilled butterfish with Algerian dukah for mains; and Mississippi Mud Pie made with a base of pecan nuts and Californian almonds as dessert, it will feel like you never left home. And these are just a small selection of what we’ll be cooking up.

After enjoying their meal, soccer supporters can gather in the cocktail bar to watch the World Cup matches and highlights daily from 10h00 until 17h00.

Those less inclined to watch the footsy football display can take their feet on a tour of Maropeng’s world-class exhibits.

To tour operators who don’t yet have plans for their visitors and South Africans looking for ways to entertain foreign football-loving family: why not bring them to Maropeng for an unforgettable experience of both home and away.

Maropeng is playing host to another of the Australopithecus sediba fossils during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The partial skeleton of a young sediba female will be on display at Maropeng from June 10, for the duration of the tournament, which ends on July 11.

To ensure that as many people as possible are able to view both these remarkable fossils, Maropeng, the Sterkfontein Caves and Origins Centre are offering a special joint ticket that will allow visitors to explore all three destinations. Tickets cost just R210 for adults and R103 for children and are valid for the duration of the World Cup. They can be purchased at any of the three locations.

June 5, 2010, has been designated World Environment Day, aimed at raising public awareness of the need to preserve the environment.

At Maropeng’s Market Place and at the Sterkfontein Caves , in the Cradle of Humankind, we use biodegradable takeaway packaging to contribute to preserving the environment.

The biodegradable and compostable trays, plates and bowls are made of natural fibres such as sugarcane and/or bamboo.

The material is tasteless and has no smell, so is suitable for packing and serving food. This packaging is also Food Contact Approval-certified, which guarantees that it is suitable to come into contact with fresh food.

Maropeng uses this packaging material for burgers, sandwiches and hot drinks.

Along with environmentally friendly practices, Maropeng also offers exciting exhibits detailing the development of humans and our ancestors over the past few million years. It also looks at our environment and how it has changed with our evolution.

There’s information on how the global environment has changed over time, the human impact on the environment and your ecological footprint, as well as an exhibition showing the differences between mined and pristine caves.

To read more about assessing your ecological footprint, click here.

In an effort to afford students from previously disadvantaged backgrounds a chance to visit Maropeng , the organisation has set up a fund, the Cradle Education Trust, to fund school visits through the Cradle Educational Programme.

The latest school and the first this year to benefit from the scheme is Ahmed Timol Secondary School in Azaadville, Randfontein, near Johannesburg. The school is named after Ahmed Timol, an anti-apartheid activist and member of the South African Communist Party, who was one of many murdered at the notorious John Vorster Square police station in Johannesburg.

The 60 learners, all from Grade 11 and 12, visited Maropeng on April 22. The learners spent the day learning about the history and evolution of humans.

School teacher, Urmilla Sentoo, says her students were really excited about their visit to Maropeng.

“We had a lovely day. The learners couldn’t believe that they could go on a boat ride at a place like Maropeng. Even the educators couldn’t keep quiet about it, it was exciting.”

Sentoo says even though her school is based in a well-off neighbourhood, her learners come from disadvantaged backgrounds and wouldn’t normally afford a visit to Maropeng.

“Maropeng was stunning. I would like to thank the management for giving us the opportunity to visit the place,” she adds.

For 16 years Magel van de Venter was a biology teacher at a high school in Krugersdorp, near Johannesburg. The need to grow as an educator and learn more about eco-biology saw her applying for a job at Maropeng.

In September 2005 Magel took up a job as Maropeng’s education and marketing executive and she hasn’t looked back since.

A typical day in her work life starts at around 4h50, depending on whether she will be delivering resource packs and school information letters. Her day usually ends at 19h00 or 20h00.

Her job entails checking school visitor numbers, admin of Hominid House, organising matric dances and improving school service and learner experiences at Maropeng.

Magel says she does all of this with pride, as the end result means uplifting learners – especially those who wouldn’t normally afford a visit to this World Heritage Site.

What Magel enjoys most about her job is the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of, and interacting with, learners. She says, “I love sharing the wonderful information that we have here.”

Asked why she took up the job at Maropeng, Magel says she saw it as an opportunity to not only be an educator in the classroom, but to also teach the world about human evolution and biology.

She notes the freedom to improve herself as one of the highlights of her job at Maropeng.

Read more.

At its sixth Tourism Indaba stand at this year’s event, Maropeng showcased its tourism offering under the Southern Spoor umbrella.

Maropeng’s managing director, Tony Rubin , and general manager, Erica Saunders, were making the most of fantastic networking opportunities provided by the Indaba forum, which has officially secured a five-year contract to host the event at Durban’s International Convention Centre.

“There aren’t as many international visitors as we’ve seen previously and the vibe is somehow not quite the same,” said Tony, commenting on his overall impression of this year’s Indaba.

Erica said she was disappointed by the lack of public workshops this year, particularly those covering topics such as e-tourism and reservations systems.

Tony and Erica were particularly interested in the final meeting with tour operators who were re-examining their 2011 rates in light of a stronger rand and improved opportunities for the European tourist market.

They were also interviewed by the media during Indaba. German radio station Deutsche Welle was interested in tourism opportunities for German visitors to South Africa, while business television station, CNBC Africa, was interested in whether the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ promised any spinoffs for the rest of Africa.

Read more.