Maropeng is the official visitor center for The Cradle of Humankind / Sterkfontein Caves World Heritage Site, an active paleoanthropological site located 50 km northwest of Johannesburg. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999, it currently occupies 47,000 hectares. The complex has a hotel, restaurant and conference center.
The set of limestone caves called Sterkfontein was the discovery site of a 2.3 million-year-old Australopithecus africanus fossil. Nicknamed "Mrs. Ples", it was found in 1947 by Robert Broom and John T. Robinson. The fossils discovered at the site are the oldest evidence of human life on earth. Guided tours in the caves leave every half hour.