South Africa Cave
Malapa Fossil Site, Cradle of Humankind
18 °C inside, all year.
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data), CC BY 4.0, with relief shading from Copernicus WorldDEM-30
The descent
The entrance, at 1,442 m.
The real relief above Malapa Fossil Site, Cradle of Humankind, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.
The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey. No depth has been published for this cave yet.
1,442m
Entrance altitude
published (Wikidata)
18°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
145m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
18 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 18 °C here, in January and in August. In November the afternoon reaches 29 °C at the entrance, 12 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from October to March.
- 29°16°Jan
- 29°16°Feb
- 28°14°Mar
- 24°10°Apr
- 22°6°May
- 18°3°Jun
- 18°2°Jul
- 22°5°Aug
- 27°9°Sep
- 29°12°Oct
- 29°14°Nov
- 29°16°Dec
Outside: afternoon and night averages for 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the entrance. Inside: the yearly average, which deep parts of a cave keep. Near the entrance it follows the weather a little.
Cave
Malapa Fossil Site, Cradle of Humankind is a cave in South Africa. The entrance is at 1,442 m.
Getting there.
- Wild cave: only with caving equipmentNo paths or lights inside. Go only with a caving club or a qualified guide.
- Muldersdriseloopnearest town · 16 km in a straight line
- Lanseria International Airport (HLA)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 13 km in a straight lineCar hire at HLA airport (Johannesburg)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above.
The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.
N
1.5 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6.0 × 6.0 km, north up. The line is the section above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the entrance.
- 6hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmThe Country Lodge, Log Cabins, Guest accommodation and 3 more
- other cave entrances within 3 km
- springs within 2 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- viewpoints within 3 km
- marked hiking routes within 3 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- car parks within 2 km
- information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- bus stops within 2 km
- campsites within 8 km
- restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the entrance. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Muldersdriseloop16 km in a straight line
- Hartbeespoort20 km in a straight line
- Krugersdorp21 km in a straight line
- Diepsloot22 km in a straight line
- Bagale24 km in a straight line
- Orient Hills25 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Malapa Fossil Site, Cradle of Humankind.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Peakyas2 mountains within 10 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather outside, at the entrance.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon | 29 | 29 | 28 | 24 | 22 | 18 | 18 | 22 | 27 | 29 | 29 | 29 |
| Afternoon | 29 | 29 | 28 | 24 | 22 | 18 | 18 | 22 | 27 | 29 | 29 | 29 |
| Night | 16 | 16 | 14 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 12 | 14 | 16 |
| Rain (mm) | 119 | 89 | 72 | 49 | 16 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 16 | 50 | 82 | 123 |
| Rainy days | 20 | 17 | 14 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 15 | 20 |
| Sun hours/day | 8.7 | 8.5 | 8.3 | 8.1 | 9.3 | 9.2 | 9.8 | 10.1 | 10.4 | 9.8 | 9.2 | 8.7 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 29 | 29 | 16 | 119 | 8.7 |
| Feb | 29 | 29 | 16 | 89 | 8.5 |
| Mar | 28 | 28 | 14 | 72 | 8.3 |
| Apr | 24 | 24 | 10 | 49 | 8.1 |
| May | 22 | 22 | 6 | 16 | 9.3 |
| Jun | 18 | 18 | 3 | 8 | 9.2 |
| Jul | 18 | 18 | 2 | 3 | 9.8 |
| Aug | 22 | 22 | 5 | 6 | 10.1 |
| Sep | 27 | 27 | 9 | 16 | 10.4 |
| Oct | 29 | 29 | 12 | 50 | 9.8 |
| Nov | 29 | 29 | 14 | 82 | 9.2 |
| Dec | 29 | 29 | 16 | 123 | 8.7 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (1,442 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 133% | 110% | 85% | 149% | 0% | 68% | — | 50% | 38% | 107% | 138% | 101% |
| 2021 | 141% | 136% | 66% | 51% | 15% | 60% | — | 160% | 160% | 149% | 97% | 154% |
| 2022 | 133% | 55% | 102% | 337% | 220% | 188% | — | 31% | 17% | 102% | 235% | 83% |
| 2023 | 30% | 152% | 62% | 31% | 238% | 72% | — | 10% | 29% | 61% | 30% | 64% |
| 2024 | 69% | 50% | 95% | 128% | 19% | 180% | — | 5% | 63% | 61% | 47% | 50% |
| 2025 | 81% | 192% | 76% | 151% | 40% | 2,808% | — | 74% | 85% | 230% | 173% | 82% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Malapa Fossil Site, Cradle of Humankind
South Africa
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,442 mEntrance altitude
- 18 °CInside, all year
Sterkfontein
South Africa · 15 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,481 mEntrance altitude
- 18 °CInside, all year
Wonder Cave
South Africa · 9 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,508 mEntrance altitude
- 18 °CInside, all year
Rising Star Cave
South Africa · 17 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,484 mEntrance altitude
- 18 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q1167179) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Rivers, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, canyons, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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