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Tsodilo Hills Sacred Landscape
Ngamiland, northwestern Botswana (Kalahari)
Botswana
Active (sacred to San & Hambukushu)
Single grove
- Location
- Ngamiland, northwestern Botswana (Kalahari)
- Coordinates
- ~18.75°S 21.73°E
- Elevation
- Quartzite hills (~400 m above plain)
- Size
- UNESCO core/buffer (rock-art hills + woodland)
- Age / Founded
- Ancient (millennia of San habitation; rock art)
- Status
- Active (sacred to San & Hambukushu)
- Deity & Religion
- Ancestral spirits of the San & Hambukushu dwell here; San & Hambukushu traditional religion
- Community & Guardians
- San (Ju/'hoansi) & Hambukushu peoples
- Vernacular name
- Sacred hills (San/Hambukushu)
- Record type
- Single grove
Cultural practices & uses
Sacred 'mystical' hills; ~4,500 rock paintings; ancestral worship & rain rites
Plant species
Kalahari woodland on/around the hills
Biome & fauna
Kalahari sandveld with quartzite inselbergs ('Louvre of the Desert')
Threats & protection
UNESCO World Heritage Site (2001); Monuments & Relics Act
Source
Tsodilo (Wikipedia); Sacred Land — Tsodilo Hills; Botswana Tourism