FAMILY FUN AT THE PLUMARI HERITAGE  MUSEUM

Take a walk down memory lane in Magaliesburg amongst one of the largest animal-drawn cart collections in South Africa

Adding a fun element to any day visit or overnight stay at Askari Game Lodge,  the museum  and its stone lapa is open to guests to view and enjoy. “The museum is open for daily viewing by the public at no charge. I believe that school groups would find the trip rewarding -  being inside the museum surrounded by the artefacts of the 1800’s and seeing the evolution of mankind is like having a live history lesson,”  says Kosie Pansegrouw MD of Guvon Hotels & Spas  and co-owner of Askari Lodge & Spa. “Combine this with a Big 5 game drive and one has a quintessential South-African experience.”

The museum essentially comprises  ten individual sections or exhibits. These include Blacksmith’s Workshop, Carpenter’s Workshop, Farm and Farmhouse contents, Food and Food Processing, Mountain Formations, Lodge History, History of the Region, Hominid History, The Stone Age and Wagons and Carts. The evolution process as well as replicas of humanoid skulls can be viewed in the museum. Items have been logged carefully and can be researched  on the computerised catalogue set up in the museum, by Ludi Harmsen. In addition 79 display panels as well as a number of wall-mounted timelines convey a variety of interesting information relevant to the area.

The museum has been named after the Plumari family who purchased the original Nooitgedacht farm in 1994 from the Bodenstein family, who in return owned the farm since the 1870’s. Owner Giuseppe Plumari has subsequently been collecting horse-drawn carts,  oxwagons and artefacts from around the country and systematically added it to the growing collection at the foot of the Magaliesberg Mountain range, which is believed to be one of the oldest ranges on earth . Some of the oldest artefacts in the museum are the Acheulian Stone Tools . “We have not had these confirmed, but they supposedly go back to the middle stone age between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago”, according to Ludi Harmsen. The  Petroglyphs are between 1,000 and 2,000 years old.

Actor David Rees attended the museum launch and found it to be “a  tremendous experience, which the kids loved  - they learnt so much during the game drive and inside the museum.  It is the perfect place to be in winter and the underfloor heating, electric blankets and fireplace kept us warm and cozy. The food  and the spa treatments were outstanding and we were amazed at how much game we saw. And the best part is that it is so close to Johannesburg.”