Latest / Wander the World with Pippa Hudson / Travel and Tourism: Karoo Origins Fossil Centre opens in Graaf Reinet

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Travel and Tourism: Karoo Origins Fossil Centre opens in Graaf Reinet · Wander the World with Pippa Hudson

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We're doing some more local travel today as we visit
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Krafrenette in the heart of the Karoo. I've got very
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: fond childhood memories of going there, and my sort of
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: overwhelming memories of my first ever visit were of that beautiful,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: soaring Dutch Reformed church, of the very stark beauty of
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the valley of Desolation just outside the town, and of
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: a very very long lunch in the old Drusty Hotel
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: where I first encountered the concept of a parent cleansing sawbet.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: I think I must have been about seven or eight
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: years old, struggling to sit still in my chair through
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  Speaker 1: this lunch that kept and kept on coming, and been
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: completely confused as to why they'd serve me ice cream
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: in the middle of the meal and then bought the
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: roast lamb afterwards, and also quite miffted how small the
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: ice cream portion had been my first encounter with the
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: concept of a sawbet. Anyway, Uh, we're not going to
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: talk about that dinner a very very long time ago,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: because if I were to go back to Kraffronette today, yes,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: I would still be able to enjoy a delicious meal
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: at the Drusty Hotel but it would be a very
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: beautifully newly restored US hotel I'd be visiting, and I'd
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: also have an additional reason to linger a little bit longer,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: and that would be to visit the new CAREU Origin's
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Fossil Center, which opened just a couple of months ago
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  Speaker 1: and is offering visitors an immersive experience that explores the
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: evolution of life on Earth. It's my great pleasure to
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: have two with us, our guests with us via zoom
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  Speaker 1: this afternoon to talk to us, firstly about that Fossil
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  Speaker 1: Center and then about the restoration of that beautiful hotel,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: which is so much a part of the town's story.
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  Speaker 1: Let me first welcome to the show Professor Bruce Rubich,
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  Speaker 1: who is a globally renowned palaeontologist, somebody for whom the
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: center is the realization of a decade's old dream, one
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: which I know is a very proud moment for the
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  Speaker 1: Rubrich family to see it realized. Bruce. Wonderful to have
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  Speaker 1: you with us this afternoon. Welcome, Thanks, Papair.
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  Speaker 2: It's wonderful to be here, and it's wonderful to be
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  Speaker 2: able to share I think an exciting story for growth
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  Speaker 2: Front before.
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  Speaker 1: We talk about the story of the new center. Maybe
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  Speaker 1: let's start with the context of why the story is
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: being told in the graph ronette. What is it about
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  Speaker 1: this part of the career that makes it such a
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  Speaker 1: special place for fossil explorers like yourself?
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  Speaker 2: Okay, well, the reason why we've got this fossil collection
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  Speaker 2: that we are exhibiting is because of my grandfather. My
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  Speaker 2: grandfather is already getting on in years when his eldest
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  Speaker 2: daughter came home from school one day, she was ten
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  Speaker 2: years old, and she said to her father, Daddy, what
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: are fossils and where did they? Where do you find them?
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  Speaker 2: And Grandpa responded by saying, let's go for a picnic
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  Speaker 2: and see if we can find one. And so they
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  Speaker 2: went off and they found a rock with some bones
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: protruding from that, and Grandpa then started opening up this
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: rock with a hammer and chisel, and eventually he said,
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  Speaker 2: a thing that looked like a horse's head started coming
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  Speaker 2: out of the rock. It's about that sort of size.
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  Speaker 2: And Grandpa then got in touch with Robert Broom, who
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  Speaker 2: was the sort of doin paleontologist of Africa at that point.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: And Broom came and looked at the specimen and said
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  Speaker 2: to Grandpa, this animal lived between two hundred and two
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  Speaker 2: hundred and fifty million years ago. Wow, I think that
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  Speaker 2: was a you know, in nineteen thirty four. That is
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  Speaker 2: a period of time that Grandpa had never considered. He
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  Speaker 2: hadn't thought about millions. And so when Broom, in his
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  Speaker 2: next breath, said why don't you give this the Transfar Museum,
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  Speaker 2: Grandpa said no, if he's been on this farm for
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: two hundred million years, i'm sure it doesn't want to
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  Speaker 2: move now. And so Broom, in his supportive way, then
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  Speaker 2: said to Grandpa, we'll go and collect more fossils. And
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  Speaker 2: Grandpa went out and he collected. Because he was a
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  Speaker 2: pioneer in this field, he collected many, many more fossils
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  Speaker 2: and discovered many new species of animals. In fact, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I was doing a calculation of the number of fossil
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  Speaker 2: species that are known from the krew Rocks, and we
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  Speaker 2: talk about that presently. It amounts to two hundred and
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  Speaker 2: forty seven species, and Grampa is responsible for discovering one
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  Speaker 2: hundred and seven of those four hundred and forty seven species.
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  Speaker 2: So this collection is a very important collection. It's got
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  Speaker 2: beautiful specimens, and I wanted to put it on exhibit
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  Speaker 2: so that the public of South Africa can seed. And
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  Speaker 2: you ask why are we doing it in grad Frenet
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  Speaker 2: It's because the fossils were found all around graft for
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  Speaker 2: Neetia and readly, this is the only fossil big fossil
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  Speaker 2: exhibition in South Africa that's present in the place where
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  Speaker 2: it was discovered. And so when you come here you
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  Speaker 2: get a sense of place, You get a sense of place,
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  Speaker 2: and we've tried to arrange our exhibits in that way
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  Speaker 2: that it makes graph for neet look like what it
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  Speaker 2: was two hundred million years ago.
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  Speaker 1: From what I've seen the photographs I've seen of the
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  Speaker 1: exhibition and the new sensor Bruce, I mean, an extraordinarily
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  Speaker 1: detailed designed thought has gone into how we display them.
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  Speaker 1: This is not an old fashioned museum where you simply
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: walk through row upon row of glass cases, although certainly
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  Speaker 1: there are those kinds of exhibits there, but the way
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  Speaker 1: the story has been told to put those into context,
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  Speaker 1: and as you say, keep that sense of place. And
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  Speaker 1: why do we care that we found the fossilized remains
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  Speaker 1: of a two hundred million year old species in this place?
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  Speaker 1: It sounds and looks like extraordinary level of detail and
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  Speaker 1: professionalism has gone into making the visitor experience one that
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  Speaker 1: is lifelike, even though we are talking about remains that
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  Speaker 1: are millions of years old.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, Pa, I think the important thing is that we've
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  Speaker 2: tried to make it something that's true to grow up
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  Speaker 2: from it and true to the Karu. Now. Levi introduced
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  Speaker 2: us just by saying the Kreus a remarkable place from
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  Speaker 2: a paletological perspective, because at the stage that the rocks
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  Speaker 2: of which we now know is the Karoo Supergroup rocks,
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  Speaker 2: when they were deposited between three hundred and one hundred
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  Speaker 2: and eighty million years ago, South Africa was part of
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  Speaker 2: a big continent called Pangaea, which is all as Northern
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  Speaker 2: and Southern Hemisphere continents together, and this was a lowland area.
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  Speaker 2: It was a sea initially, and there is a huge
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  Speaker 2: mountain range off the southern what is currently the southern
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  Speaker 2: coast of South Africa that is the height of Mount Everest,
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  Speaker 2: and that shed sediment into this basin. So rivers flowed
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  Speaker 2: northwards from this mountain range into the basin and deposited sediment.
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  Speaker 2: And while sediment was being deposed to these elements lived
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  Speaker 2: here and got closed up and so were preserved as fossils.
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  Speaker 2: But why that is important is because three hundred million
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  Speaker 2: years ago reptiles that just appeared on Earth for the
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  Speaker 2: first time, and this krew story traces the origin and
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  Speaker 2: development of reptiles from three hundred million years ago to
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: one hundred and eighty million years ago. That's a period
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: of one hundred and twenty million years ago, and in
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: that time we gradually see mammals evolving, we see dinosaurs evolving,
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  Speaker 2: and we see tortoises evolving, and all of that happened
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  Speaker 2: in the karoo and sour exhibit goes around that to
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  Speaker 2: try and show that in a user friendly sort of way,
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  Speaker 2: in a pictorial way that is interesting. Then I had
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  Speaker 2: a fantastic exhibition company called Fancy Horse from Cape Toon
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  Speaker 2: who were really very good at putting together exhibits and
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  Speaker 2: coming with very good storylines, and so this exhibit follows
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  Speaker 2: a storyline. Firstly, we place graftronet in the story of
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  Speaker 2: the development of life, so you can see where two
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  Speaker 2: hundred million years ago is in the story of the
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  Speaker 2: development of life. And then secondly we we try and
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  Speaker 2: show you what the animals look like that lived here.
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  Speaker 2: And most importantly, we have a big collection of fossils
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  Speaker 2: on permanent display, nearly one thousand fossils which you can
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  Speaker 2: see on display. That gives you an idea of the
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  Speaker 2: number of different species that were living at that stage.
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  Speaker 2: And then an important innovation in this whole display was
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  Speaker 2: the creation of a prehistoric water hole. You know, I
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  Speaker 2: love going to game reserves and just sitting at a
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  Speaker 2: water hole and waiting to see what happens. We've done
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  Speaker 2: exactly that, but for two hundred and sixty million years ago,
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  Speaker 2: when these animals would have come down to the water
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  Speaker 2: hole and done and interacted with each other. So you
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  Speaker 2: can go there and experience what graphet looked like two
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  Speaker 2: hundred and sixty million years ago. And then the other
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  Speaker 2: side of this display, just north of graphonet is Lurtzberg Pass,
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  Speaker 2: and that records the biggest extinction event of of all times.
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  Speaker 2: You know, in the last five hundred million years, there
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  Speaker 2: have been five major extinction events that anything between sixty
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  Speaker 2: and ninety percent of species disappeared in a relatively short
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  Speaker 2: period of time. And the biggest extinction event was not
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  Speaker 2: the one that removed the dinosaurs. Sixty five million years ago,
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  Speaker 2: which is the one that removed animals which lived two
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  Speaker 2: hundred and fifty two million years ago. And the best
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  Speaker 2: place to study that in the world is just an
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  Speaker 2: OrthoGraph and net, and so we're looking at that, and
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  Speaker 2: we're international scientists are working on that all the time
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  Speaker 2: to try and understand what happens with an extinction event,
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  Speaker 2: who disappears, and what causes it, and who lives. And
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  Speaker 2: why it is important is because the world is currently
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  Speaker 2: experiencing a.
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  Speaker 3: Sick extinction event and species are going extinct at an
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  Speaker 3: extraordinary rate, and so it's very pertinent to look at
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  Speaker 3: the past to try and understand what the futures.
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  Speaker 1: Bruce, You've painted the most wonderful picture for us. I've
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  Speaker 1: bet everybody listening to this is chomping at the bit
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  Speaker 1: to get to Craffronette and see it for themselves. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you so much. My final question for you before we
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  Speaker 1: hand over to our second guest is a more personal one.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I know that this seeing of the center
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  Speaker 1: open to the public is the realization of a dream
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  Speaker 1: that your family has cherished for a long long time.
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  Speaker 1: What do you think your granddad would make of it
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  Speaker 1: if he could be there to walk through the center today.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think the Grand bar would be very satisfied.
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  Speaker 2: I think you'd be fascinated about how the science has
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: progressed since he was working here. But I think most
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  Speaker 2: importantly he loved sharing this with other people and he
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: would be very very happy to see this center and
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  Speaker 2: these fossils being shared with the world.
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  Speaker 1: Well, thank you so much for the role you have
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  Speaker 1: played in sharing them with us, Professor Bruce Rubich, so
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: appreciate your time this afternoon before we wrap up the
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: conversation about Craffornette. Though obviously this new Keru Origins Fossil
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  Speaker 1: Center is going to be one of the biggest reasons
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  Speaker 1: to visit the town, there are so many other reasons.
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  Speaker 1: The experience of standing in that valley of desolation, looking
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  Speaker 1: around at the majestic span of it is something absolutely breathtaking.
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  Speaker 1: There are numerous historic buildings to be visited in the
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  Speaker 1: town as well, and one of them is the famous
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  Speaker 1: Drosty Hotel. I said at the beginning that one of
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: my deepest memories of Craffrenette is of going for a
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: proper multiple course lunch there. I can't remember where we
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: were traveling between but we stopped there and it was
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  Speaker 1: such a memorable occasion for me and I would be
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: able to do it again today. With me on the
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  Speaker 1: line is Tabello Polisane, who is the general manager of
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  Speaker 1: the Drosty Hotel, which is just one hundred meters down
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  Speaker 1: the road from the Fossil Center. So if you are
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: planning a visit to go and look at the fossils,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: perhaps you would like to book yourself into the Drosty
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  Speaker 1: Hotel which is newly renovated Tibet l Thank you so
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: much for joining us as well, welcome to the show.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Thank you for having me do better. When when was
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: the Drasti actually first built and what was its early
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: significance to the town.
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  Speaker 4: So the trust was airly bolt in the eighteen hundreds
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  Speaker 4: as a Droste Hotel.
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  Speaker 5: The newly refurbished Drost Hotel this was done in ten
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: years ago in twenty fourteen when it opens the stores,
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: so that will be their fond memories.
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  Speaker 4: That you have already shared with me. So yeah, this
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: is the current restaur hotel.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: That we have.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, So so the restoration actually a fair while ago,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: but are not done with a huge amount of care
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: to preserve that that that early heritage and the notably
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: the Cape Dutch style. Tell us a little bit about
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: what the hotel offers today.
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  Speaker 4: Okay, so the Drustia Hotel, as you know, is a
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: five star naturally retreat that blends modern elegance with heritage.
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: So it's original Cape Dutch architecture has been beautifully and
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: respect is respectfully restored, preserving the most important historical elements
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: such as the gables, the fetched gables that you see
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: as you walk around, and the wooden chatters. So those
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: details have been integrated with modern designs and luxury amenities,
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: offering the guests a very unique experience where history meets comfort,
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: and this obviously results in a warm atmosphere that reflects
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: our history and modern, faster hospitality.
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  Speaker 1: Devena, I would imagine the opening of this magnificent new
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: fossil center is going to be a very significant shot
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: in the arm for the local tourism industry. But of
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: course that's not the only reason to visit craft for
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: in it, what do you find visitors are coming to
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: you to experience. Is it mainly just to enjoy good
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: old carew hospitality or are there particular attractions that you
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: find draw people to craft in it and to the
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: drasty hotel itself.
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: Well, we've just ended one particular interesting experience, which is
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: our Careu Fossil Center that Recess already spoken about and
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: having it head our doorstep. Obviously, we as a drustee,
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: we offer a base for our guests to be able
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: to explore the town on food and to be able
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: to experience the cultural and heritage exploration and all the
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: created experience in town. Other than there, there is obviously
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: our value of desolation that the guests can explore, you know,
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: enjoy some bubbles as they go over to the mountains.
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: So there is a whole lot of experiences that can
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: happen here in Refernette. But then the one particular thing
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: is that guests usually now used to just run through Forraffrenette.
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: Now they've got all the reasons not to be in
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: Haffernette with all the authentic experiences that we offer you a.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Well, I hope to be able to come back and
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: visit again soon. Tibella Polisani thanks so much for joining us.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: The general manager of the Drosty Hotel, which is one
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: of the So if it's to base yourself, if you
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: are planning to visit the craft Frenet to go and
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: visit the new Career Fossil Center. I want to say
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: thank you so much to both Tabello and to our
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: previous guest, Professor Bruce Rubidge, forting such a wonderful job