Michael Cherry's perspective of elitist tourism at South Africa's Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site in Gauteng does not take into account extensive efforts by scientists, the government and the private sector to bring a wider understanding of human evolution and our shared heritage to the South African public (Nature 523, 33; 2015).

Credit: Darren Alexander

Excavations of hominin fossils at the Malapa caves, viewed from an overhead structure (pictured), may need wealthy tourists to support access to the site, but plans include free school tours on at least one day each month. The Rising Star cave will be open as a nature and heritage reserve for an entry fee of just a few rands (12 rands is US$1). A virtual lab at the Maropeng visitor centre will also allow people to watch Malapa fossils being prepared online.

Last year, 38,000 schoolchildren visited our education facilities at the active palaeontological site of Sterkfontein. The outreach programmes at the University of the Witwatersrand's Evolutionary Studies Institute, together with privately funded activities, reach about 200,000 more schoolchildren, most from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Public exhibitions of our fossil hominin treasures are held frequently at museums around South Africa, with up to 15 on display at any one time. The government and the University of the Witwatersrand have also gifted casts of Australopithecus sediba fossils to museums across Africa and around the world.