We have seen the rise of ecotourism, cultural tourism and even specifically ‘Africa' tourism, but now a new concept is coming to the fore in southern Africa - archaeotourism, into the future via the past.

For many visitors to Africa, this is a continent without any real history. There was slavery, of course, and then European exploration and colonialism, but nothing much else before that, really - this was literally the Dark Continent, the Terra Incognita.

A strange perception this, for if one takes the concept of history in its broader context, not just that recorded on parchment or paper or silk, then Africa has the ultimate human history, for it is here that it all began. To declare one precise moment in time as the beginning of human history would be both fatuous and dangerous, but if one said that human beings first began to make their mark on Africa, and later the world, when Homo erectus stood up to be counted, some 1.8 million years ago, that would be close enough.

There is a marvellous continuity of presence in southern Africa, stretching back way beyond Homo erectus, and from him right up to the present. If Homo erectus had glanced back over his shoulder, he might have seen Homo habilis lurking there, making the first stone tools that are still scattered across the sub-continent. Then behind him in the shadows Australopithicus africanus, the Southern Ape Man of Africa, perhaps the first of our line. And if he had looked forward, he might have seen Homo sapiens striding out across the veld towards the modern era. Drifting through the mists of the last 130,000 years, he would have seen the San and the KhoiKhoi, and more recently the Bantu-speakers from West Central Africa, and finally the Europeans - a superb continuity of habitation, evolution and development, of man and his ancestors, here, on the African sub-continent. And we're still here!

Evidence of this continuity of presence is scattered across southern Africa - from the desiccated wastes of the Namib Desert in the west to shipwrecks on Mozambican reefs in the east; from fossil sites in Zambia and great architectural wonders in Zimbabwe; to the oldest known Homo sapiens site in the world on South Africa's southern coast - it is all here. And some of the countries of southern Africa are now ready, willing and able to share this extraordinary heritage with the rest of the world.

In Namibia, the rock art is amongst the most famous in the world. It includes sites like Apollo Cave (at about 27,000 years, thought to be the oldest rock art in existence, anywhere), and the Brandberg, but there are sites stretching from north to south throughout the Namib. The desert is also home to many of the relics of Namibia's German colonial past, like the deserted (in the true sense of the word!) gold rush towns and mines on the Skeleton Coast. And every now and then the desert dunes move aside for just a moment, as happened again just recently, to reveal a tantalising glimpse of some ancient event - a sea of human skulls and bones, victims of a colonial war, the ravages of famine or dread disease? But the dunes rolled back before they revealed too much.

In Botswana, the sands of the Kalahari unveil some fascinating sites of great archaeological importance. There are, for instance, the Zimbabwe-type ruins at Kubu Island in the vast dry sea of the Mgadikgadi Pans, and those on the banks of dry rivers like the Motloutse on the eastern side of the country. There is also a plan to bring palaeo-anthropology into the general wildlife and wilderness experience in the Kwando concession area in the far north. The early inhabitants of southern Africa visited here too, for ancient pottery and bones have been found. A project now in progress is looking at, among other things, modern carnivore and predator markings on prey bones (teeth, claws and talons), for comparisons with similar markings on fossils bones found at sites around southern Africa. Hopefully this will give palaeontologists a better idea of what was eating what, when, where, why and how. Botswana is also home to some fine rock art, like that of the famous Tsodilo Hills to the west of the Okavango Delta.

The Zimbabwe-type ruins in Botswana send a clear message that the ancients did not respect the political boundaries in place today, and that many of these cultural glories are shared by neighbouring countries. In Zimbabwe itself, which has what are probably the finest ancient architectural splendours in Africa south of the Sahara, the authorities have launched an aggressive campaign to market more of these spectacular sites.

The glories of Great Zimbabwe are well known, but there are other splendid sites in Zimbabwe, like the Khami Ruins outside Bulawayo (reflected in the ruins in nearby Botswana) and Dhlo-Dhlo, between Bulawayo and Gweru. In Nyanga are ruins and terraces which cover hundreds of hectares of the Eastern Highlands and stretch into neighbouring Mozambique; and there are many others.

Apart from spreading their tentacles into Botswana and Mozambique, the great empires of Zimbabwe also colonised parts of northern South Africa, leaving a string of famous sites like Thulamela in the Kruger National Park, Dzata near Tshipise, and the world-renowned Mapungubwe Hill.

There are other fledgling sites and sights elsewhere in southern Africa, in Lesotho and Zambia, and many more with potential for development in other countries. However, perhaps the most exciting development at the moment is in South Africa. Since South Africa became a member of the United Nations again in the early 1990s, it has also rejoined UNESCO and therefore qualified for listings of World Heritage Sites. It took years to shorten the short list, and three vital sites were put forward - The Greater St Lucia Wetland Park in KwaZulu-Natal, Robben Island off Cape Town (this was recently accepted as South Africa's first World Heritage Site) and, most importantly from an archaeo-tourism point of view, the proposed site centred on Sterkfontein - officially the Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai and Environs World Heritage Site.

Sterkfontein itself has been described as "probably the single most important source of information on our distant relatives anywhere in the world" and "the richest hominid site in the world," by Professor Tim Partridge, Chairman of the Sterkfontein Amenities Committee of the University of the Witwatersrand. The heart of the proposed World Heritage Site covers about 25,000 hectares, with a buffer zone around it of a further 28,000 hectares. Within this area fall not only Sterkfontein, but also other important palaeo-anthropological sites such as Swartkrans, Kromdraai, Drimolen, Gladysvale and Plovers Lake. Already, says Partridge, some 100,000 people a year are visiting Sterkfontein, while Plovers Lake now has an educational programme in place for young people.

Of course, much else is happening in South Africa. The West Coast Fossil Park, based on the incomparable Langebaanweg site, has a wondrous collection of fossils of animals weird and wonderful that revelled in the wet and tropical conditions of the now-dry West Coast many millions of years ago. There is a Fossil Trail in the Karoo, where the fossil skull of a creature that predated the great dinosaurs and which was possibly the forerunner of modern mammals, was recently discovered.

There is also a growing interest in other important fossil sites and active digs around the country, and this year in particular there is also a flurry of military anniversaries. This year marks the centenary of the Anglo-Boer War, a conflict that lasted from 1899 to 1902 and which has bedevilled South African politics ever since. The centenary is being seen as a major attraction for both local and foreign tourists. Events from local and low key to national and grand, are already happening at battlefields and other important sites around the country. It is also the 120th anniversary of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879, a conflict that has also left an indelible mark on the country.

Archaeo-tourism is happening in southern Africa. A veritable explosion of vital fossil finds in South Africa, coupled with the centenary of the Anglo-Boer War and a growing accent on man's past in other southern African states, should ensure that the archaeo-tourism concept sweeps into the new millennium. Perhaps the last word should come from palaeo-anthropologist Dr Lee Berger, who says, "If we want to know about humans, about what we are, why we are, how we are - if we want guidelines for the future, we need to look at the past, and that is here in Africa."

David Holt-Biddle is a leading South African travel and conservation journalist and broadcaster.

Published in Travel Africa Edition Nine: Autumn 1999

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