• Each room at the Forum Homini Hotel is decorated in 'cave chic'. Picture: SUPPLIED

  • One of the rooms at the Forum Homini Hotel. Picture: SUPPLIED

  • Platforms allow the public to see archaeologists in action at the Cradle of Humankind. Picture: DARREN ALEXANDER

  • PORTAL: The platform where Australopithecus sediba was discovered, in the Cradle of Humankind. Picture: DARREN ALEXANDER

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SOUTH Africa’s Cradle of Humankind might be popular among cyclists, but its global importance — as everyone knows — has to do with our hominid ancestors.

There is, in fact, lots more to do. Those not too keen on pedalling away in spandex can hot-air balloon, go on tree-top canopy tours or four-wheel-drive adventures, fish for trout, relax in several spas or eat at award-winning restaurants. Combining luxury, fine dining and fossils is a no-brainer.

It’s all within an hour’s drive north-west of Johannesburg. Lovely, lovely.

Take the five-star Forum Homini Hotel and its restaurant, Roots, on the private Letamo Estate.

The 14-room boutique hotel and its open-to-the-public restaurant were designed to commemorate the area’s rich heritage. You’ll pass the homes of people who have bought stands on the estate, but what awaits you at the hotel is bushveld solitude — sunbleached grassland, birdsong, the whump of a ceiling fan, the clink of ice in crystal.

Each room is decorated in what general manager Jaco Minnaar calls "cave chic", with light fittings that emulate stalactites and floor coverings evocative of animal pelts.

There are mod cons, including WiFi, and the presidential suite adds to the conferencing facilities in that the bedroom can be screened off for a meeting of six to eight people.

Occasional cushions bear images of hands, stone tools, African sunsets and acacia thorns. Artworks, such as a huge sculpture at the entrance and the tiled walls of the lounge, were commissioned from artists such as Marco Cianfinelli, Peter Mthombeni and Paul du Toit and reflect the journey from hominid to human.

Roots — which gets effusive reviews on travel website TripAdvisor — is led by British chef Chris Tustian, who has worked at Le Franschhoek and run five-star restaurants in the UK and for VIP events such as the British Formula One Grand Prix Wimbledon and the Royal Regatta.

Menus alternate. On the day Business Day visited everything Tustian served was interesting and delicious. There was a deliciously crispy-skinned cured salmon with radish and mange tout, roast lime gel, cauliflower shavings, artichoke and polenta. That was just the second course — there are four at lunch. Others were beef tartar with capers, radish, horseradish, pickled onions and egg yolk; a beef fillet terrine with lentil puree, aubergine puree, roast onion, grilled carrots and beans, and an intriguing Chocolate Experience. All menus go with carefully selected wine pairings.

• Blaine was a lunch guest of Forum Homini and Roots.