Tsodilo Hills

Tsodilo Hills

The Tsodilo Hills are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, consisting of rock art, rock shelters, depressions, and caves in southern Africa. It gained its WHS listing in 2001 because of its unique religious and spiritual significance to local peoples, as well as its unique record of human settlement over many millennia.

Archaeological research – ongoing for the past 30 years – estimates that Tsodilo has been inhabited for the past 100,000 years, making this one of the world's oldest historical sites. Pottery, iron, glass beads, shell beads, carved bone and stone tools date back over 90,000 years.

There are four chief hills. The highest is 1,400 metres, one of the highest points in Botswana. The four hills are commonly described as the "Male" (the highest), "Female", "Child", plus an unnamed knoll.They are about 40 km from Shakaee and can be reached via a good graded dirt road.

There is a managed campsite between the two largest hills, with showers and toilets. It is near the most famous of the San paintings at the site, There is a small museum and an airstrip near the campsite.