Botswana is home to the ancient rock art of Tsodilo Hills.
Tsodilo Hills rise in northwestern Botswana near the border with Namibia. The site contains thousands of rock paintings and archaeological traces, including evidence of human activity extending over many millennia. The paintings depict animals, people, and geometric forms, and they provide an important record of southern African cultural history.
UNESCO listed Tsodilo as a World Heritage Site in 2001, describing it as one of the largest concentrations of rock art in the world. The hills are also spiritually important to local communities, including the San, who have long regarded the landscape as sacred.
Tsodilo is sometimes confused with rock-art sites in neighboring Namibia, Zimbabwe, or South Africa because southern Africa has many ancient painted shelters. The specific hills, however, are in Botswana’s remote northwest. Their striking rock formations stand above the surrounding Kalahari landscape.