!Khwa ttu San Heritage Centre - Museum Explorer SA

Table of Contents

Introduction

Located just 70 kilometers north of Cape Town, !Khwa ttu is a San culture and education center that spans across an 850-hectare nature reserve. Established in 1999, !Khwa ttu has been providing practical residential training for young San from all over southern Africa, offering employment opportunities, and supporting environmental stewardship programs. With the newest addition, the !Khwa ttu San Heritage Centre, it offers visitors a unique opportunity to learn about San culture, history, and their contribution to the modern mind.

About the Centre

The !Khwa ttu San Heritage Centre is more than just a collection of artifacts and historical photos. It’s a pioneering initiative that embraces the principle of community curation, featuring San-led trails, guided experiences, and exhibitions that are designed to engage visitors’ senses, body, and mind. The center showcases the skills and knowledge of San people from across southern Africa while telling the archaeological story of the origins of the modern mind on the southern African coastline.

Apart from the Heritage Centre, !Khwa ttu offers visitors a range of experiences, including a busy restaurant, stylish guest houses, open-air tented camps, thrilling mountain bike trails, and a shop selling hand-crafted gifts found nowhere else. San guides lead unique tours for visitors, fulfilling !Khwa ttu’s mission to enable San to reclaim and share their heritage, in their own way.

Interesting Facts

Irene Staehelin, a Swiss anthropologist, established !Khwa ttu in 1999 to help unlock tourism opportunities and showcase San culture to the world.
The land on which !Khwa ttu sits was once a wheat farm that Irene bought and developed for the !Khwa ttu project.
The Ubuntu Foundation, based in Switzerland, supports the !Khwa ttu project, guiding and helping it in various ways.
The !Khwa ttu San Heritage Centre features three thought-provoking buildings that tell a compelling story of human origins to contemporary San life.
!Khwa ttu works in cooperation with world-leading geneticists to explore how the San fit into accounts of the origins of all people from Africa.
Archaeological sites near !Khwa ttu play a key role in the story of human origins, and the center explores this through its exhibits and guided experiences.

Photo Gallery

Physical Location

Tourist Experiences

Make a trip of it and visit some of the other recommended museums, tourist attractions and experiences in the area.

Conclusion

The !Khwa ttu San Heritage Centre is a unique cultural and educational center that offers visitors an opportunity to learn about the San people's rich history, culture, and contribution to the modern mind. With its various experiences, including the Heritage Centre, guided tours, mountain bike trails, and stylish guest houses, !Khwa ttu is a must-visit destination for anyone interested in exploring the cultural and natural treasures of South Africa.