I avoid guided tours whenever possible, but in case of Vredefort Dome it was simply too hard to find out where to go and what to look for. It doesn’t help either that some of the sites are on private land. Being in South Africa for business, I had a day off and wanted to squeeze in Vredefort and Sterkfontein. Off-season, not many tourists visit the region, so I went on a 3 hour private tour with Dome Tour, paying for 4 people. My guide was Prof. Graeme Addison, a very friendly and knowledgeable guy, offering different tours and activities from his ranch (easy to find with google maps from JNB airport). Your own car is supposed to be used for the tour, but as I didn’t have a 4WD I had to spend some extra bucks and we went with Graeme’s car.

The tour itself was very interesting. We visited an old quarry and diffent spots that made the enormous size of the crater somehow visible. We also stopped at an old mining village with a small museum. Unlike Cape Town, this part of the country has very dry winters, which granted me an unexpected beautiful and sunny day. Between the places of interest, you pass by animal farms with Giraffes and other exotic animals as well as fields of cashew trees. The region has some natural beauty to offer and overall it was a relaxing and calm experience. Maybe not the most exciting WHS on the list, but surely deserves its spot.