WHERE TO VISIT IN TANZANIA

Kondoa Rock Art- Historical Site

Kondoa Rock Art is a natural rock shelter of sedimentary rocks fragmented by rift faults, with vertical planes decorated by beautiful paintings. The site has a collection of images with ancient life values in displays that portray a unique testimony to the historical social, cultural, and economic basics of Village dwellers. famously, the Maasai and Sandawe tribes are dominant around the villages.

The rocks have paintings of Domesticated animals, farming equipment, wildlife, hunting equipment, and economic activities that took place at the time. The Site was declared a UNESCO World Heritage in 2006 because of its impressive rock. The use of Different colors on drawings on hard rocks makes the site attractive and displays the interpretation according to nature. For example, a picture of a man holding a stick near a pastoral animal is interpreted as a pastoralist.

How to visit Kondoa Rock Art site

The historical site is located in Kolo Village in Kondoa District in Dodoma Region few kms from the main Dodoma-Arusha road. It is estimated that the site has more than 300 painted rocks and curves representing the culture of Hunter-Gather and pastoralists who are said to have settled in the area for more than a millennium ago.

From the Arusha region, one has to take a road to Dodoma Via Babati to Kondoa. From a main road, another local road will take you to the entrance site where there are tourism offices where the visitor will have full instructions. The roads are not much good but possible with the car and make it hard during the rainy season. There are some entrance fees according to the instructions for foreigners and local tourists.

One of the hanging rocks with drawings in Kolo village

Kondoa Rock Art Site ( KONDOA IRANGI)

Why is the site Unique?

The paintings represent reality of the most African societies with their activities of Hunting, Gathering, and Pastoralism. The unique paintings attract many historians and tourists to visit the village and discover more about African ancient culture.
Some of the indigenous people use rocks as the site of their traditional ritual deeds of divine, rainmaking, and healing of some diseases. They believe that the deeds create more inter-relationship and links with the societies and enhance cultural continuity of the area. Sandawe uses the rocks in their Simbo healing ceremony and Masai uses them for ritual deeds.
Researchers and education personnel use the site for different academic research basically on Human life and traditional changes between societies over the years

WHERE TO VISIT IN TANZANIA