Kondoa Rock Art Sites

Along the eastern escarpment of the Maasai plain, hundreds of natural rock shelters in granite hold painted panels that span an extraordinary depth of time. The oldest layers, in red ochre, show elongated human figures, hunts, wild animals and abstract designs, and are attributed to hunter-gatherer communities; later white pigment paintings, made by agro-pastoralist groups, overlie them with domestic animals and different concerns. Some shelters are still used in ritual by nearby communities, which is unusual for a site of this age and part of why UNESCO inscribed it in 2006. The best-known cluster is around Kolo, where a handful of shelters are set up for visitors and reached on foot up the hillside with a guide.

What to look for

• The Kolo shelters - the accessible cluster, with the clearest red ochre figures.
• Superimposed paintings - later white pigment layered over much older red panels.
• Mungomi wa Kolo - one of the most striking panels, a short steep walk from the road.
• The escarpment views - the rift edge looking out over the plains below.

When to go

The dry season, June to October, when the tracks are passable and the walks are comfortable. Rain makes the access roads difficult and the rock slippery.

Things to know

This is a working archaeological landscape rather than a presented attraction: the walks are steep, the shelters are scattered and a guide is compulsory and genuinely necessary. Some panels are faded and hard to read, and photographing them well is difficult. Very few visitors come, so facilities are minimal and it fits best as a stop on the long road between Dodoma and Arusha.

Nearby

Dodoma lies south; the road continues north to Arusha and the northern safari circuit.

Key facts