You love digging the past, and maybe you don’t know that Tanzania is a good place where to discover ancient memories… Just on the mainland you can find a number of archaeological sites, some of them very famous, right along the way to the most famous safari itineraries.
So, why not to add a short cultural escape to an historical spot to your holidays? Have a look at our list, and if you’re interested contact our experts!
Olduvai
Located in the Great Rift Valley in Arusha Region, this is one of the most famous paleoanthropological sites in East Africa, maybe also because of its position on the way to Ngorongoro and Serengeti. Here have been found many important evidences in the understanding of early human evolution - Mary and Louis Leakey unearthed the first well-dated artifacts and fossils of some of our earliest human ancestors, including Homo habilis, Paranthropus boisei, Homo erectus and finally Homo sapiens.
Laetoli
Let’s move to the west side of Ngorongoro Crater, where hominid footprints are preserved in volcanic rock 3.6 millions years old and represent some of the earliest signs of mankind in the world. The location was excavated by archaeologist Mary Leakey in 1978 and others followed, finding in this area many tracks of the presence and remains of hominids.
Engaruka
Great Rift Valley of northern Tanzania. You can pass by Engaruka, an abandoned system of ruins, that is famous for its irrigation and cultivation structures and it is considered one of the most important archaeological sites in the Great Lakes region. Sometime in the 15th century, an iron age farming community, housing several thousand people, developed this complicated system. For an unknown reason Engaruka was abandoned at latest in the mid-18th century.
Kaole
A small town, located three miles east of Bagamoyo, on the Indian Ocean coast. The Kaole Ruins, dating back to a period between the 13th century and the 16th century, are what remains of an ancient muslim Shirazi settlement: two mosques and 30 tombs. One of the buildings is the most ancient known mosque in East Africa. Tombs are built with coral rag.
Kondoa Rock Art Sites
Nine kilometres off the main highway from Kondoa to Arusha, it is possible to visit a series of caves carved into the side of a hill. The caves contain paintings, some of which are believed by the Tanzania Antiquities Department to date back more than 1500 years. The exact number of rock art sites in the Kondoa area is currently uncertain, however estimates are of between 150 and 450 of the decorated rock shelters.
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