What is heritage?

Heritage is everything we inherit from the past and want to keep for the future.

Heritage is the things we get from the people who lived before us. It can be things we can touch, like old buildings and tools, and things we cannot touch, like songs, stories, languages and recipes. Heritage helps us know who we are and where we come from.

• Natural heritage - special mountains, caves, rivers and animals.
• Cultural heritage - buildings, monuments, art and old objects.
• Living heritage - languages, music, dances, food and celebrations.

South Africa's World Heritage Sites

Some of our places are so special that the whole world helps to look after them.

A World Heritage Site is a place chosen by an organisation called UNESCO because it matters to all people on Earth, not just one country. South Africa has about ten of these sites, spread across the provinces. On our trail we will visit some of them.

• Some are chosen for nature, like the Cape mountains and the Drakensberg.
• Some are chosen for history, like Mapungubwe and Robben Island.
• Being on the list means the place is protected for children of the future.

One heritage stop in each province

Nine provinces, nine famous places to visit on our trail.

The Cradle of Humankind

A group of caves near Johannesburg where scientists found some of the oldest human family fossils in the world.

At the Sterkfontein Caves scientists have dug up fossils - bones that turned to stone - of early humans who lived millions of years ago. Famous finds include a skull nicknamed 'Mrs Ples' and an almost complete skeleton called 'Little Foot'. This is why the area is called the Cradle of Humankind.

• A cradle is where a baby sleeps - so this is like the birthplace of humans.
• It is a World Heritage Site because it tells the story of all people.
• You can still visit the caves and museum today.

The Kingdom of Mapungubwe

Long ago, on a flat-topped hill in the far north, stood the capital of South Africa's first kingdom.

About 700 to 800 years ago, Mapungubwe was a busy kingdom where people farmed, kept cattle and traded gold and ivory with faraway lands. The king lived on top of a special hill. Archaeologists later found beautiful gold objects there, including a small golden rhinoceros.

• It shows that great African kingdoms existed here long before Europeans arrived.
• The golden rhino is now a famous symbol of South African history.
• Mapungubwe is a World Heritage Site on the border with Zimbabwe and Botswana.

Robben Island

A small island in the sea near Cape Town that became a famous prison - and a symbol of freedom.

For many years Robben Island was a prison. During apartheid, leaders who fought for equal rights were locked up here, far from their families. Nelson Mandela spent many years in a small cell on the island before he was freed and later became South Africa's first democratically elected president.

• Today it is a museum that teaches visitors about the struggle for freedom.
• Some of the guides are former prisoners who share their own stories.
• It reminds us to value the freedom and rights we have today.

Drakensberg Rock Art

High in the Drakensberg mountains are thousands of paintings made by the San people long ago.

The uKhahlamba-Drakensberg is South Africa's highest mountain range. Its caves and rock shelters hold thousands of rock paintings made by the San hunter-gatherers. They painted people, eland, and their beliefs using natural paints from rocks, plants and animals.

• The name uKhahlamba means 'barrier of spears' in isiZulu.
• The paintings are hundreds and even thousands of years old.
• It is a World Heritage Site for both its nature and its ancient art.

Across the Karoo and the Free State

Three more stops on our trail - in the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Free State.

Ancient rocks and an ancient child

Our last two province stops go to the North West and Mpumalanga.

Living heritage and Heritage Day

Not all heritage sits still in a museum - some of it lives in what we do every day.

Living heritage is passed from grandparents to parents to children. It includes our 11 official languages, our songs and dances, our stories, our clothes and our favourite foods. Every year on 24 September South Africa celebrates Heritage Day, when we honour all our different cultures.

• Music and dance like isicathamiya, gumboot dancing and amapiano.
• Foods such as pap, bunny chow, koeksisters, umngqusho and chakalaka.
• Stories, praise poems (izibongo) and games shared between families.

Looking after our heritage

Heritage belongs to all of us, so all of us must help to protect it.

If old buildings fall down, rock paintings are scratched, or stories are never told again, that heritage is lost forever. That is why we have museums, monuments and laws that protect special places. But everyday people help too - by visiting, learning and passing on what they know.

• Never touch or damage rock art or old objects.
• Visit museums and heritage sites to learn their stories.
• Listen to elders and pass their stories on to others.

What we learned on the trail

We travelled through all nine provinces and met natural, cultural and living heritage.

From the caves of the Cradle of Humankind to the kingdom of Mapungubwe, the prison of Robben Island and the painted mountains of the Drakensberg, South Africa's heritage tells the story of all its people. Heritage belongs to everyone, and everyone can help protect it.