Desert & Delta Safaris awakens legend of Tsodilo Hills
Thalefang Charles | Monday May 16, 2022 06:12
Far out on the western horizon, through the vast plains of the Kalahari shrub bush, a wintry morning mist fuses with the smoke from the veldt fires to produce a pinkish hue that skirts around the isolated hills in the middle of nowhere. That is the bird’s eye view of the mystical Tsodilo Hills from the Okavango Delta Panhandle.
As we approach in a small helicopter, just at the right elevation, the soft morning light illuminates the dramatically rising peak of the Male hill – one of the highest points in Botswana at 1,400m above sea level. The ‘Child’, the small hill on the far north, is almost completely buried in the haze while the dotted peaks of the Female Hill in the middle, are just barely visible. The panoramic spectacle resembles a watercolour ancient painting, a minimalist fine art piece, or a surreal landscape artwork.
With all my many past visits to Tsodilo Hills, I have never seen it like this. And I conclude that a helicopter arrival at Tsodilo Hills is a sight to behold. It is the most stunning arrival at the hills. As the little flying machine makes its final approach, the incredible mysticism of ‘The Mountains of the Gods’, as the first people of the Kalahari refer to Tsodilo Hills, hits me. I could feel the shivers. The goosebumps. Indeed, this must be the Tombstones of the Gods. Watching the Male Hill from the southern end in the air, the grandeur of Tsodilo reveals itself in the most fulfilling way, both physically and spiritually.
Tsodilo is the most sacred site of the first people of the Kalahari. It is the San’s temple, a site of the beginning of sex and the oldest ritual site for the hunting missions. Archaeologists say that the hills have been inhabited for about 100,000 years – making this one of the world’s oldest historical sites. The hills shelter over 4,000 rock art paintings around 400 conveniently located sites.
Researchers say there could still be more undiscovered or vandalised paintings. The earliest rock art known to have been painted at Tsodilo is estimated to be over 10,000 years old. Researchers have submitted that the oldest visible works are around 3,000 years old but most date from 700–1100 AD.
There are red and white paintings and the former is older than the latter. Most are finger paintings wrought from ground haematite, charcoal, and calcrete possibly mixed with animal fat, blood, egg white, honey, sap, and urine.
Just recently in 2006, a discovery by Associate Professor Sheila Coulson, from the University of Oslo presented that the modern human, homo sapiens, performed advanced rituals at Tsodilo’s White Rhino Cave for over 70,000 years. Up until Coulson’s sensational discovery, scholars had largely held that modern man’s first rituals were carried out just over 40,000 years ago in Europe. This is therefore why Tsodilo is a revered sacred site.
And it is for that undeniable mysticism that local tourism operator, Desert & Delta Safaris has invested in the area to add Tsodilo Hills into their portfolio.
Desert & Delta Safaris has acquired Nxamaseri Island Lodge located along the Okavango panhandle and intends to use the lodge to offer a missing piece of the cultural heritage tourism experience in Botswana.
Although Tsodilo Hills was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002, tourism in the area has been unsatisfactory. One of the reasons why Tsodilo has been left in the cold was due to tourism operators not taking the initiative to package and sell it to prime tourists that frequent Botswana. Most tourists were only sold the incredible wildlife tourism product without any mention of the culture and people.
This then made only the wildlife tourism sites like the Okavango Delta, Chobe and Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park become hotspots for tourists.
With other successful lodges around the Okavango Delta, Chobe and Makgadikgadi Pans, Desert & Delta Safaris aims to awaken the great legend of Tsodilo, diversify their wildlife tourism offerings, and by extension, assist in the sustainable development of the people of Tsodilo who are hoping to benefit from the tourism in the area.
Part of the package of Tsodilo activities that the Desert & Delta Safaris is hoping to make standard would be a helicopter ride to the hills from the Nxamaseri Island Lodge. The incredible ride offers both the scenic views of the curling and twisting Okavango River before it forms the Delta, as well as the spectacular arrival at the sacred Mountains of the Gods, and I believe it will soon be a sought-after tourist activity in Botswana.
*Thalefang Charles was a guest of Desert & Delta Safaris on its 40th anniversary and stayed at the Nxamaseri Island Lodge.