The Mapungubwe National Park has numerous archaeological sites dating from Early Stone Age (1 million to 250 000 years ago) to the present, and is considered to be the most remarkable Iron Age site in South Africa.

Situated on the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers (where the borders of Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa meet), the artefacts found at Mapungubwe rank amongst the most important pieces of art yet found in sub-Saharan Africa. They document the rise of the Zimbabwe culture, which was one of the most complex social and political entities in Africa during the 8th and 9th centuries. The culture, based partly on gold and ivory trade with Arab traders, is believed to have had its origins in the Limpopo Valley and subsequently spread northwards into Zimbabwe. Finds of gold artefacts (the most well-known a gold rhino), beads, burial grounds and other remains indicate that Mapungubwe was one of the major centres of this culture and bear testimony to the way of life of African peoples more than a thousand years ago. After 1200 AD Great Zimbabwe succeeded Mapungubwe as the inland trade capital.

A serial site - in Cape Province, South Africa - made up of eight protected areas, covering 553,000-ha, the Cape Floral Region is one of the richest areas for plants in the world. It represents less than 0.5% of the area of Africa but is home to nearly 20% of the continent's flora. The site displays outstanding ecological and biological processes associated with the Fynbos vegetation, which is unique to the Cape Floral Region. The outstanding diversity, density and endemism of the flora are among the highest worldwide. Unique plant reproductive strategies, adaptive to fire, patterns of seed dispersal by insects, as well as patterns of endemism and adaptive radiation found in the flora are of outstanding value to science.

Covering an area of 240 000 hectares, the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park is dominated by sheer cliffs, deeply incised valleys and crystal clear rivers. It was declared a World Heritage Site in 2000 for both its natural beauty and cultural importance.

The many rivers, wetlands, indigenous forests and the rolling grasslands are home to a diverse range of animals and plants, including many endemic and endangered species. The Cranes and the Blue Swallow are all critically endangered - fortunately viable populations do still exist in this area of South Africa.

In addition to recognising the unique natural beauty of the Drakensberg, the World Heritage Site also focuses world attention on the park's rich collection of rock art - the last visible signs of the ancient Bushman or San people.

For nearly 400 years, Robben Island - set in the Atlantic Ocean some 12 kilometres from Cape Town - was a place of banishment, exile, isolation and imprisonment. It was here that rulers sent those they regarded as political troublemakers, social outcasts and the unwanted of society.

During the apartheid years Robben Island became internationally known for its brutality. The duty of those who ran the Island and its prison was to isolate opponents of apartheid and to crush their morale. Some freedom fighters spent more than a quarter of a century in prison for their convictions.
 
Those imprisoned on the Island succeeded on a psychological and political level in turning a prison 'hell' into a symbol of freedom and personal liberation. Robben Island came to symbolise, not only for South Africa and the African continent, but also for the entire world, the triumph of the human spirit over enormous hardship and adversity.

Only 45 minutes from the famous "goldfields" of South Africa around Johannesburg, nestling in a peaceful rural valley, lies the invaluable and ancient "Cradle of Humankind" - a place where our ancestors once roamed.

Some of these ancestors of modern humans faced extinction many millions of years ago. Others became part of a long evolutionary journey to the present day. Today their fossilised remains hold many clues to our beginnings, and perhaps even a key to our future.

The Cradle of Humankind, listed as a World Heritage Site in December 1999, is the world's richest hominid site. Here tourists can explore the amazing finds that have led leading palaeo-anthropologists and archaeologists to suggest that humankind first appeared in this corner of Africa and from there spread out to populate the rest of the world.

Given the spectacular and diverse culture, history, nature and wildlife that South Africa harbours, it is not surprising that seven of the globe's World Heritage Sites are found here.

What is a World Heritage Site?
There are two types of World Heritage Sites - cultural and natural - and it is not easy to get either status from the United Nations Environmental and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO).

Natural sites must be outstanding examples that show major stages of earth's history, contain superlative natural phenomena or are areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance.

Cultural sites must represent a masterpiece of human creative genius, exhibit an important interchange of human values or bear exceptional testimony to a civilisation which is living or has disappeared.

South Africa's "Cultural" World Heritage Sites include:

• The Cradle of Humankind in Gauteng.
• Robben Island in the Western Cape.
• Mapungubwe

• uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park in KwaZulu Natal.
• The Greater St Lucia Wetland Park in KwaZulu Natal.    Cape Floral Region
• The Cradle of Humankind
• The Vredefort Dome