This area contains one of the world's finest collections of prehistoric rock paintings, with an estimated 1,600 individual paintings at almost two hundred different sites, and the most accessible ones are in the Irangi Hills north of Kondoa.
The images represent both hunter-gatherers and agro-pastoralist ways of life, depicting the changing lifestyles over the past two thousand years. This historical site is the latest Tanzania's World heritage site since 2006.
The caves contain paintings, some of which are believed by Tanzania Antiquities Department, that are more than 1,500 years back. It is also believed that the older paintings date back to at least two thousand (2,000) years, while some of the newer paintings are just two hundred (200) years old. The paintings are believed to have been created by the ancestors of the present day Sandawe and Hadzabe tribes.
Location:
Kondoa Irangi Rock Paintings are located between Singida and Irangi Hills in Kondoa Irangi village. Other rock painting is located at kolo village in Singida.
Accessibility: By road
The Kondoa rock paintings its about 20 kilometers north of Kondoa, about nine (9) kilometers off the Kondoa to Arusha main highway, and about 275 km southwest of Arusha.
Attractions:
Symbols paintings
The paintings show simplified human figures engaged in hunting, playing music instruments, crossing rivers, and animals such as elephants, giraffes and antelopes. They symbolize hunter’s gatherers and arts people who were living in this area.
Traditional Ritual Believes
One of the key qualities of the Kondoa rock art sites is that, they are still actively used by local communities in their daily rituals activities like weather divinations for rain making and traditional healing rituals.
Decorated Shelters
The Kolo Kondoa rock art site is an interesting excursion for travelers wanting to experience Tanzania's early history. There are 150 shelters decorated with paintings in the Kondoa District, some of which can be easily accessed from Kolo Kondoa.
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