Kondoa was one of the reasons I chose to self-drive in Tanzania because it's quite away from the other sites and I didn't want to arrange a separate tour for just this site alone - but in hindsight it takes a lot of driving on rather crappy traffic-laden roads around central Tanzania and one could just get a driver from Dodoma. It won't cost you that much more especially if you are in a smaller group. It turns out that you must have a car when you get to the site and you drive that super bumpy road (even taking a toll on 4WDs!) to the real site which might not be the best for your rental agreement. When you get to the museum you pay for PARKING (!?), the site permit, a mandatory guide (decent English and knew the site well) and I think even permit for your car to enter the park area...like..whaaaat?! The prices suddenly seem quite steep what was supposed to be a quick look-see of rock art, and that's pretty much what you get to see. You can only drive to ONE site and it's up the hill in the area beyond the little town. The road is rough and if you are out of luck you have oncoming vehicles on the way too. There is eventually a small parking area with a lovely map and some information plus a shaded hut used for groups to listen to a guide. In my case we went directly to the first of three sites and the guide talked about everything on the way. The step path is made quite well and it's easy for almost everyone to get around but do expect several hours to be around the site from start to finish including the drive back and forth. If you are coming from Dodoma it's basically a full day trip.

The rock art is not really amazing and I wonder if this is the best they have to offer. It tends to be tribes people, animals and events. As usual they have history and ideas beyond but overall I find it mediocre and I sped through the third site which was small anyway. This is not because I've seen thousands of rock art (ok...hundreds? At least 2 dozen sites) but there seems a spark to make these stand out. The art is also quite faded. I only use my phone pics for the collage above as I never got around to process my camera pics which can get better results from the RAWs for sure. The main highlight of the trip was that ON TOP of the hill is a sacrifice rock still used by the locals today. As soon as I heard I asked the guide if we can go up and he agreed warning me it's not an easy hike - and while he wasn't wrong there are just a couple of tricky spots and most mid-fit folk can do it. There is a good view similar to some spots on the way. It also made me wonder how far the spots go beyond because I'm quite sure the inscribed spots aren't exactly what there really is. It could be that there is better rock art to be found - not that I would go back to find it or anything but meh - it's ticked off and I feel you will have the same idea after visiting. Done and done.