Kitching Fossil Exploration Centre
Situated in the heart of the Karoo, in the picturesque town of Nieu-Bethedsa, and home of the famous Owl House, the Kitching Fossil Exploration Centre tells the story of life in South Africa 253 million years ago during the Permian Period.
Visitors to the Fossil Exploration Centre can experience, on a short guided tour to nearby fossil-bearing rocks, the thrill of finding a fossil in the Karoo.
Step into the Fossil Exploration Centre and you enter a world without the plants and animals we know today. Life-sized models of prehistoric animals which once lived in the Karoo and paintings by the artist Gerhard Marx illustrate a time when there were no flowers or grasses, no mammals and no birds. Humans would only arrive on scene around 250 million years later. At this time the mammal ancestors (or therapsids) ruled the Earth.
The Centre also has displays on some of the latest and hottest fossil finds like Homo naledi and Australopihecus sediba. You can see a demonstration of the method that we use to extract fossils, a process called fossil preparation. Also children and the young at heart can dig in our fossil sand pit and climb on the reconstructions of the prehistoric beasts that live in the garden.
Opening Hours
Monday to Wednesday 8:00 - 16:00
Thursday to Sunday 09:00 - 17:00
Closed 25th December
Ticket Prices
- Access Ticket Single Ticket (per person): R60
- Access Ticket Combined Special (per person): R 110
- Access Ticket KFEC Large Groups (per person): R50
- Access Ticket School Groups (per person): R40 per person
Contact Information
WhatsApp: 082 216 6479
E-mail: Andries Tromp or Melanie Bowkes at fossilsafari1@gmail.com