Flow Communications

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Fun fact: Maropeng, the visitor centre for the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, is the first client Flow signed up back when we opened our doors in 2005. If you’re familiar with the Flow story, this was back when Flow was a two-person team operating out of the spare bedroom of the home of our CEO, Tara Turkington.

Tara bagged the enormous and fascinating task of writing all the content for Maropeng’s exhibition and duly co-opted Flow’s first employee, Richard Frank to assist with months of painstaking research into palaeoanthropology.

Since then, over the past 13 years, Flow has worked closely with Maropeng, building and maintaining its digital properties and covering exciting live events: Flow was there for historic announcements such as the discovery of Homo naledi and Australopithecus sediba. We also designed and developed Maropeng’s two previous websites – both were cutting-edge at the time they were built, but the fast-paced world of online technology meant that by 2018, it was time for a new look, feel and functionality.

The new site looks at the comprehensive and compelling scientific content that Maropeng has become known for with fresh eyes, and uses a new content management system to increase the site’s visual appeal and make it more user-friendly.

Flow’s head of project management, Gail Cameron, led the website upgrade, working closely with the team from Maropeng to make sure that we delivered what they needed. She says that this time around, a lot more emphasis was placed on the user journey and on allowing visitors to find the information they need more quickly. This was guided by a careful look at the analytics of the old site, to gauge what kind of content was most popular.

“I am most proud of the modern, clean functionality of the site. The previous site was so busy and we’ve really drilled down to the key purpose of the site – to attract visitors, to make it easy to find information and to book tickets,” says Gail.

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The new page for the Maropeng Boutique Hotel allows users to see reviews and book a room with a single click.

“The new Maropeng website shows off Flow’s ability to make information visual. Images say far more than words, and by featuring large showcase images on each page of the website, we really are enticing visitors to look more and ultimately book tickets,” she says.

Maropeng’s new digital home showcases the attraction’s three main sites: the Sterkfontein Caves, the Maropeng visitor centre and the Maropeng Hotel.

And we’re pleased to say that the Maropeng team is happy with the results.

“We are delighted to once again be working with Flow, who have taken our online presence into a new era! We are looking forward to using this platform to showcase not just the official visitor centre to the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, but all of the amazing offerings [in the Cradle] too,” says Janine Muthusamy, Maropeng’s general manager of sales and marketing.

Take a look at the new site here: www.maropeng.co.za.

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