There are a couple of 'must-see' tourist destinations in South African ? Table Mountain and Robben Island spring immediately to mind. In fact, these are such significant sites that most South Africans will shamefully mumble an excuse if they haven?t managed to visit them. Coincidentally, both also fall on South Africa's list of World Heritage Sites.

What most people don?t know is that there are in fact eight of these sites in South Africa which have been chosen by Unesco for their cultural or natural significance. Among these are the Cradle of Humankind and the Mapungubwe cultural landscape ? the home of an ancient civilisation.

Robben Island

For many, Robben Island is synonymous with Nelson Mandela, who spent 18 of his 27 years in prison there. During the apartheid period, Robben Island was a maximum security prison for political prisoners. The last political prisoner left Robben Island in 1991 and was followed by the last common-law prisoner in 1996.

Although Robben Island is no longer a prison, it has a long history of incarceration. In the seventeenth century the Dutch imprisoned those who opposed colonial rule on the island. From 1846 to 1931 the island was home to a leper colony and a mental hospital, and was also used as a defence base during World War II.

Robben Island, which was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1999 for its cultural value, is described by Unesco as a symbol of "the triumph of the human spirit, of freedom, and of democracy over oppression". Visit www.robben-island.org.za

Cradle of Humankind

The Cradle of Humankind ? which incorporates Sterkfontein, Swartkrans and Kromdraai ? contains evidence of human evolution over the past 3.5 million years. The Cradle has produced more than 950 hominid (human predecessors) fossils, incuding the famous Mrs Ples, and is regarded as one of the richest concentrations of such fossils in the world.

Almost a complete skeleton of a 3.3 million-year-old australopithecine (oldest hominid) has been recovered from the Sterkfontein caves. The Cradle was registered as a World Heritage Site in 1999 because of its historic significance and its enormous potential for scientific information. Visit www.cradleofhumankind.co.za.

Greater St Lucia Wetland Park

The Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, which was also inscribed in 1999, is a World Heritage Site for its natural beauty. The park is one of the largest estuary systems in Africa and it is home to the continent's southernmost coral reefs.

The park, which is made up of 13 adjoining reserves, has exceptional biodiversity as a result of its unique coastal location between tropical and sub-tropical Africa. It is a combination of wetlands, grasslands, sandy beaches, savannah, lakes and forests.

All this geographical diversity gives rise to a variety of species. At least 521 species of bird, including breeding colonies of pelicans and herons, can be found in St Lucia.

uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park

The uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park is South Africa?s only World Heritage Site which has both natural and cultural significance. 'uKhahlamba' which means 'Barrier of Spears' and 'Drakensberg' which means 'dragon mountain', both aptly describe the mountain?s soaring buttresses.

The mountain range, which is the highest in Africa south of Kilimanjaro, is home to many endemic (occurring nowhere else on earth) and threatened species of both birds and plants. It is also South Africa?s main watershed.

Culturally the mountain range is significant because of its substantial body of rock art. With approximately 30 000 images painted in 520 rock shelters, this is the largest collection of rock art in Africa. All the work was produced by the San people who lived in this mountain range thousands of years ago.

Mapungubwe cultural landscape

Few people know that South Africa was once home to the largest kingdom in the subcontinent. In 1932, an excavation by the University of Pretoria discovered evidence which suggested that a great kingdom existed in the Limpopo province, at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers, from the 10th to the 14th centuries. At the time of discovery, the knowledge was withheld from the public because it contradicted the apartheid ideology that Africans were 'primitive' people.

Items found in the excavation ? such as an ornamental gold statue of a rhino and numerous pieces of jewellery ? suggest that this civilisation, which apparently traded gold and ivory with China, India and Egypt, was quite advanced.

At Mapungubwe, the 'place of the stone of wisdom', there is a free-standing structure which rises 30 metres above the surrounding grasslands. The site was declared a World Heritage Site in 2003 because of its historical significance.

Cape Floral Region

A visit to Cape Town is incomplete without climbing Table Mountain and visiting Kirstenbosch Gardens. The natural significance of these two destinations has been acknowledged and both fall into South Africa?s sixth World Heritage Site ? the Cape Floral Region.

This region, which is regarded as one of the planet?s 18 biodiversity hotspots, stretches 90 000 square kilometres over land and sea and incorporates eight protected areas from the Cape Peninsula to the Eastern Cape. With three percent of the world?s plant species (in a mere 0.04 percent of the world land area) this is one of the richest areas of plant life in the world.

Alongside Table Mountain and Kirstenbosch (which is the first botanical garden to be included in a World Heritage Site) are the De Hoop nature reserve, the Boland mountain complex, Bosmansbos wilderness area, the Cederberg wilderness area and Baviaanskloof. The fact that many of the plant and animals species occurring in the region are endemic makes this region unique.

Vredefort Dome

South Africa?s seventh World Heritage Site is the Vredefort Dome, although the word 'dome' is a little misleading,because this is actually the site of an ancient impact crater.

Approximately two billion years ago a meteorite bigger than Table Mountain is believed to have hit the earth just to the south-west of Johannesburg. The impact is supposed to have been so great that the blast of energy increased the oxygen levels to the point where multi-cellular life on earth became possible. Put in simple terms, this could have been the big bang that caused life on earth and the Dome is the oldest and largest meteorite impact site in the world.

Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape

The most recent South African addition to the list is the Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape, which cracked the nod in 2007 for its cultural value.

The South African Land Restitution Programme returned the land to its rightful inhabitants, the Nama people (descendants of the Khoi Khoi) in 2002. In an unprecedented move, the Nama community decided to dedicate the 160 000 hectares of mountainous desert in the Northwest province to conservation.

The community, which still practices a traditional two-millennia-old semi-nomadic subsistence way of life, lives in three small villages just outside the proclaimed area ? Kuboes, Lekkersing and Eksteenfontein.

The proclaimed area is surrounded by a buffer zone, made up of the Richtersveld National Park, the Nababiep Provincial Nature Reserve and designated communal grazing grounds, which ensures that the unique fauna and flora of the region is protected.

So step aside Stonehenge and the pyramids of Giza ? South Africa is where it all began and where it continues to grow and flourish. Before you hop on a plane to visit exotic and historically significant destinations around the world, first take some time out to explore South Africa?s unique and diverse history and landscape.