MRS PLES AND FAMILY WILL BE TOURIST HORDE'S DELIGHT

BY PIPPA GREEN (Pictures by MAlfaRK)

In 1938, Gert Terblanche, a schoolboy who lived in the area, discovered teeth belonging to a distant human ancestor, Australopithecus robustus, probably about 1,8 million years old. Dr Robert Broome, the palaeontologist who confirmed the discovery also found the skull, known as Mrs Ples, there in 1947. Mrs Ples is the first complete skull of an Australopithecus africanus. It is about 2,5 million years old. South African palaeontologist Professor Phillip Tobias, working with Professor Alun Hughes, found specimens of homo habilis, probably the earliest direct ancestor of humankind, in the caves in 1976.

Three years ago, a 3,5-million year old set of hominid foot bones known as Little Foot was found. Last year, an entire fossilised skeleton was found and this week the Gauteng department of agriculture, conservation and environment brought some of the 400 local landowners in the area together with the scientists and the Gauteng government to celebrate the recent nomination of the area as a world heritage site. Speaking at a ceremony near the caves, Mary Metcalfe, Gauteng's MEC for agriculture, conservation and environment, said the site did not belong to government but to local landowners, and if it became a world heritage site it would "belong to the world". "It will belong to people removed from us in space and time."

Addressing scientists at the site, Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa said: "What better vision for the African renaissance? When we say the next century should be an African century, we are showing that we can take our rightful place through scientific research." The world heritage committee is due to meet on December 8 in Morocco to vote on new heritage sites. The St Lucia wetlands and Robben Island are other South African sites that are on the list.

This week Dr Trish Hanekom, the head of the agriculture department, said she expected tourism in the area to increase from about 120,000 visitors a year to about 600,000 over a five to 10-year period. The area, she said, was one of the few renowned for its "ecologically transitional zones". "It is one of the few areas where you get certain species of mammals cohabiting," said Hanekom. "And it's an important cultural and palaeontological site because of the hominid findings."

The hard dolomitic rock underlying the 47000-hectare area that has been mapped out for the heritage site serves as a "natural barrier" to uncontrolled development, said Hanekom, so the focus will be on conserving the area. Hanekom said the government was cautious in predicting how many jobs would result from developing the area, but Gauteng expected a substantial increase in the next five to 10 years.