Central SA
Nearly 9,000 visitors visit Kgodumodumo Dinosaur Centre─── ZENANDE MPAME 16:34 Fri, 11 Jul 2025
Members of the public are encouraged to make use of the free access window at the Kgodumodumo Dinosaur Interpretive Centre while it lasts.
The free entry at the centre will remain in place till Tuesday, 30 September, to allow visitors and school children enough time to visit during the school holiday.
The centre is open from 08:00 to 17:00 every day, and offers travellers, families, learners, and science enthusiasts a rare opportunity to journey back in time and to learn about South Africa's prehistoric treasures.
In its first two weeks of the official opening (23 June to 8 July) the centre has seen almost 8,826 visitors.
Large crowds of people visit the centre daily. Photo: Elzette Boucher-Kruger
“The centre has been doing very well, I think yesterday alone we recorded 9,000 visitors who went to the centre,” said Free State MEC of Destea Ketso Makume.
“This doesn’t include the walk-ins; it refers to people who have made appointments. I think we are doing really well, and we are also going to have an agreement with the Department of Education.
We want to have means in which we can help learners as and when they visit to assist them with the payment, so that there can be a figure that is made only for students.”
This will allow students to do their research and also to learn about the stories that are being presented, and we are very much excited, and we hope that the members will double themselves as and when winter passes and summer kicks in, he said.
The Kgodumodumo Dinosaur Interpretive Centre is located within the Golden Gate Highlands National Park in Clarens, and is poised to transform tourism and economic development in the Thabo Mofutsanyana District.
The R120 million centre was launched on Sunday, 22 June by the Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille, as well as MEC Makume, the Free State Premier MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae, and other stakeholders.
“The centre’s popularity has been significantly boosted by the timing of the winter school holidays and SANParks’ offer of free entrance, which will remain in place until Tuesday, 30 September 2025,” said SANParks Head of Communications spokesperson JP Louw.
“The majority of the visitors were domestic travellers, 4,963 visitors were primarily from the Free State, 2,566 from Gauteng, and 426 from KwaZulu-Natal.”
Guided tours are available for those looking to gain deeper insights into the centre’s exhibits and the region’s rich paleontological history, he said.
