Two-thirds of all the stars we can see from Earth are concentrated in the southern region of the sky.

On a moonless evening, our large telescopes reveal the delicate structures of faraway objects. We look at sparkling stars in the colourful Jewel Box cluster, or at the massive clouds of dust and gas in the Eta-Carina Nebula, where stars are born.

If you’re adventurous, you can try to separate the more than 3-million stars in the brightest of the globular clusters, Omega Centauri.

Join Maropeng’s resident astronomer, Vincent Nettmann, for an informative after-dinner talk, illustrated with spectacular images of the southern stars.

The Maropeng Hotel Restaurant will host this event for R295 per adult.

The star-viewing evenings are weather-dependent. Please bring your own binoculars.

Stargazers will be pleased to know that Maropeng is offering an accommodation special for the Friday and Saturday of each stargazing weekend. Prices are R770 per person sharing per night, or R1170 if you are spending the night on your own.

Please click here to make a booking.

Maropeng’s corporate tourism profile is set to rise at the end of February when the company takes its place at the forthcoming business tourism exhibition under the auspices of Meetings Africa.

The exhibition, at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg from February 24 to 26, targets the business tourism industry. It will be attended by conference organisers, meeting planners, corporate travel agents, destination management companies and other industry experts.

As an award-winning tourism destination and one of Southern Africa’s most compelling destinations, Maropeng will have the opportunity to showcase its facilities as an outstanding venue for corporate entertainment, team building, business meetings and corporate getaways.

Maropeng is running a special for all Meetings Africa delegates. Bookings received from the Meetings Africa delegates, for any Maropeng offering, by the end of March 2010, will be charged at the 2009 rates.

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The Maropeng Hotel, with breathtaking views of the Witwatersberg and Magaliesberg ranges, is the epitome of luxury and the perfect location to woo your sweetheart.

Combine your stay at the hotel with a romantic three course dinner at the Maropeng Hotel Restaurant.

Enjoy breakfast on the terrace the next morning and soak up the best view in Gauteng.

Hotel accommodation rates are R770 per person sharing, including bed and breakfast. The single supplement is an additional R400, bringing the total to R1170 should you be staying alone.

The closing date for bookings is 19 March at 17h00pm.

Please click here to make a booking.

National Water Week, from March 15 to 21, tries to increase public awareness on the importance of water, one of South Africa’s most limited resources.

Maropeng supports this initiative and tries to use water responsibly in everything we do.

Earlier this month, for example, we spent two weekends with a team of 30 gardeners removing noxious pompom weeds (Campuloclinium macrocephalum), also known as the “pink plague”, from the Maropeng property and surrounding roadside verges.

Says Maropeng Managing Director Tony Rubin, “Pompom weed is the biggest threat to the conservation of grasslands in South Africa. It’s a very pretty pink thistle from Argentina, but it’s a killer of our natural vegetation. If you’ve got pompom weed, please remove it.”

Rubin explains that the weed has a tubular root system, and it needs to be cut just above the roots, and the cut-off plant needs to be treated. The cut vegetation needs to be burned, or the weed will continue to propagate.

Pompom weed photo courtesy of the Randpark Ridge Village Association.

On April 10, Maropeng and iHominin will give budding palaeontologists a rare opportunity to explore a 1.5-million-year-old fossil site.

Cooper’s Cave, 1.2km from the famous Sterkfontein Caves near Johannesburg, is a relatively newly discovered fossil site, where several species of animals and a number of stone tools have been found.

The day’s activities include an interactive fossil and site talk, exploring a cave, a chance to look for fossils, and learning how to make stone tools.

This is a must-do for adults and children with an interest in palaeontology and archaeology. Remember to pack a hat, apply sunscreen and wear comfortable walking shoes – oh, and bring your camera!

The price is R350 per person and it includes a light picinic lunch. The tour will start at 09h00.

For more information, contact Maropeng on +27 (0) 14 577 9000 or e-mail: info@maropeng.co.za.

Please click here to make a booking.

Upcoming Cooper's Cave picnics:

01 May

08 June

Her academic CV makes a long read, culminating in reading towards a PhD in palaeoanthropology from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), and her appointment as project director of Cooper’s Cave near Maropeng.

But for Christine Steininger, it all began on an area of open ground behind her family’s home in Illinois, USA. The daughter of a Taiwanese mother and Czech father, Steininger was born in Taiwan, but grew up in Illinois after the family moved there when she was three.

“When I was eight years’ old, I led my first expedition into the ‘untamed’ prairies just behind our house in Illinois. I had heard whispers of arrowheads and a burial site found behind our house. My imagination ran wild,” she says.

Her love affair with South Africa continued when she was accepted for postgraduate studies at Wits (where she later graduated cum laude with an MSc and is working towards her PhD), and was also offered the chance to participate in excavating Cooper’s Cave, near Maropeng.

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