Isimila Stone Age Site

Isimila is two things next to each other. One is an archaeological site excavated in the 1950s, a former lakebed where Acheulean handaxes, cleavers and other stone tools were found in quantity along with animal bones, dated to somewhere in the range of sixty to a hundred thousand years or older by different assessments. The other is the gully below it, where erosion has cut the soft sandstone into a forest of standing pillars several metres high.

What you actually see

• The sandstone pillars - eroded columns standing several metres in the gully.
• The Acheulean tools - handaxes and cleavers left in place at the excavation.
• The excavation trenches - the 1950s cuts through the old lakebed deposits.
• The site museum - a small display of tools and bones found here.

When to go

May to October for the driest walking; the gully paths are slippery in the rains. Mornings and late afternoons give the best light on the pillars. Guides are provided at the gate.

Honest expectations

The site museum is very basic and the interpretation is thin. Guides are compulsory and their information varies. The walk into the gully is steep and hot.

Nearby

Iringa is northeast, and Ruaha is beyond it.