Vredefort Dome: World Heritage Sites of South Africa

Let Southbound take you to the Vredefort Dome and back in time to where it all started-The Big Bang! To how our world began, and then, when it was all perfectly formed around two billion years ago- Wham! Another big bang-this time an uninvited intruder from outer space in the form of a whopping 190-kilometre-diameter meteorite that smashed into Earth near today's little town of Vredefort in central South Africa. * The Vredefort Dome, South Africa's seventh and least-known World Heritage Site, is the site of the largest and oldest meteorite impact structure on Earth ? Deep Impact: the formation of the dome and how the ground was turned literally inside out in a matter of minutes ? Described by UNESCO as "the world's greatest known single energy release event" * With consequences of global destruction, burying of the Witwatersrand goldfields and, perhaps, evolutionary change * Accommodation and activities: comprehensive listings of tourist facilities and routes in and around the picturesque town of Parys at the centre of the Dome regionFleminger David Staff is the author of 'Vredefort Dome: World Heritage Sites of South Africa', published 2008 under ISBN 9780958489140 and ISBN 0958489149.