Visit to the Wonder Caves within the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve.
The Wonder Cave is a natural limestone cavern situated in the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. Just over an hour's drive from Johannesburg or Pretoria, the cave, discovered by gold prospectors in the late 1890s, is well preserved, with natural wonders worth admiring.
There are over 200 caves in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site.
The Wonder Cave is South Africa’s third largest cave and one of the most beautifully decorated.
Easily accessible from the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve, part of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, the approach to the Wonder Cave gives little clue of the geological wonders that lie beneath.
Like many of the limestone caves northwest of Johannesburg, early miners discovered the Wonder Cave while prospecting for gold and you'll see evidence of their blasting and mining activities during your tour.
The Wonder Cave is a huge single limestone cavern measuring 125m long, 54m wide and 60m deep. Reasonable fitness is required to tour the Wonder Cave. Whilst no crawling or arduous physical activity is required to complete the tour, the 88 steps that lead you into, and out of, the cave tend to leave most visitors a little breathless!
Formed between five and 10-million years ago, the Wonder Cave is remarkable in that its ancient dripstone formations are largely intact, and still growing.
Among the fantastical natural flowstone sculptures you'll see are stalagmites, some resembling weird mushrooms and jellyfish, others that look like fingers, depending on your imagination.
The variety of stalactites in the Wonder Cave is also impressive. Some clusters resemble crystal chandeliers; others petrified stone curtains. The largest formation measures 15m in length and weighs 50 tons; other flowstone sculptures are as slender and delicate as gossamer.
In the Northern Chamber, the first area of the cavern visited on your tour, is a natural pool reminiscent of a font such as one finds at a shrine. Coincidentally, the next flowstone formation you are shown is called the Madonna, and it's hard not to imagine supernatural powers at work as you wonder, slack-jawed with awe, at what time and nature have wrought in this subterranean limestone cathedral.
After visiting the caves and having some lunch, me and my kids spent the rest of the day in the Rhino And Lion Nature reserve.
The Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve "The Nearest Faraway Place" is a privately owned game reserve covering some 1200 hectares which has opened to the public in 1990. After humble beginnings visitors may now view in excess of 650 heads of game, including some very rare and endangered species.
Here we could interact with a variety of rare and endangered animals.
For a small fee there is a variety of wild cats that you can go into the cages and interact with. From the small white Lion cubs to large full grown Leopards and Tigers.
We then went for a game drive (self drive) where you can see all the other animals on the reserve right next to the road. The Rhino and Lion Nature reserve host a wide variety of animals of which only to name a few is many species of Antelope, the Ostrich, Rhea and Warthog along with Rhinos, Buffalos, Bisons and Hippopotamus and many more.
Photos from the Game Drive
We spent the whole day there and only got to see a small portion of what is to offer. The Rhino and Lion Nature reserve also caters for a 4 x 4 enthusiast with a variety of trails that you can go on along with a rest area that can only be accessed from the 4 x 4 trails.
Our day came to an end and we would visit the site again.