{"id":2181,"date":"2026-04-14T19:48:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T17:48:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bushroversafaris.com\/?page_id=2181"},"modified":"2026-05-22T15:25:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T12:25:09","slug":"tsodilo-hills","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bushroversafaris.com\/index.php\/destinations\/tsodilo-hills\/","title":{"rendered":"Tsodilo Hills"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"2181\" class=\"elementor elementor-2181\" data-elementor-post-type=\"page\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7eaa0f4 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"7eaa0f4\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cc7b507 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cc7b507\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Rising abruptly, and dramatically, from the Kalahari scrub bush \u2013 the rock face turning a copper colour in the dying sun \u2013 the magnetic power of Tsodilo Hills both captivates and mystifies. There is an undeniable spiritualism about the Hills that immediately strikes the visitor.<\/p><p>Indeed for the people who live at the Hills \u2013 the San, the original inhabitants, and the Hambukushu who have periodically occupied the hills for the past 200 years \u2013 Tsodilo is a sacred, mystical place where ancestral spirits dwell. In earlier times, their ancestors performed religious rituals to ask for assistance, and for rain. They also put paintings on the rock face; and their meaning and symbolism remain a mystery even to today.<\/p><p>Exploring the three main Hills \u2013 Male, Female, and child \u2013 is a journey into antiquity. Archaeological research \u2013 ongoing for the past 30 years \u2013 estimates that Tsodilo has been inhabited for the past 100 000 years, making this one of the world\u2019s oldest historical sites. Pottery, iron, glass beads, shell beads, carved bone and stone tools date back 90 000 years.<\/p><p>The Early iron Age Site at Tsodilo, called Divuyu, dates between 700- 900AD, and reveals that Bantu people have been living at the hills for over 1000 years, probably having come from central Africa. They were cattle farmers, settled on the plateau, and traded copper jewellery from the Congo, seashells from the Atlantic, and glass beads from Asia, probably in exchange for specularite and furs. There was a great deal of interaction between different groups, and trade networks were extensive.<\/p><p>Excavations also reveal over 20 mines that extracted specularite \u2013 a glittery iron-oxide derivative that was used in early times as a cosmetic.<\/p><p>Rock paintings are nearly everywhere \u2013 representing thousands of years of human inhabitation, and are amongst the region\u2019s finest, and most important. There are approximately 4 000 in all, comprising red finger paintings and geometrics. It is almost certain that most paintings were done by the San, and some were painted by the pastoral Khoe who later settled in the area. The red paintings were done mainly in the first millennium AD.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rising abruptly, and dramatically, from the Kalahari scrub bush \u2013 the rock face turning a copper colour in the dying sun \u2013 the magnetic power of Tsodilo Hills both captivates and mystifies. There is an undeniable spiritualism about the Hills that immediately strikes the visitor. Indeed for the people who live at the Hills \u2013 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