Local and International Paleontologists are preparing for serious studies at site of the newly discovered ancient earth pillars found in the deep wilderness of Ruaha National Park.
This comes after recent unearthing of Stone Age tools in the remote site now dubbed ‘Ruaha Magical Site.’
Tanzania National Park’s Senior Conservation Officer Marckyfarreny Rwezaula described the ancient tools recently scooped from the magic pillars’ site as spears chiselled from rock, grinding stones, axes and strangely shaped wooden tools.
“Our own geologists have started researching on the newly found red canyons deep in the wilderness of the Ruaha; situated in the middle of a forest some 70 kilometers from the park headquarters,” said Conservator Rwezaula.
She explained that the park is working to construct a road which leads to the new site as well as erecting facilities for tourists accommodation near the pillars.
Viewing the site from a low flying plane, the Ruaha pillars area looks like an ancient New York City mushrooming from the jungle, but up close the newly discovered ‘Magic Site,’ resembles an prehistoric town that possibly existed a million years ago.
The pillars were discovered in the later 2023 deep in the jungle, at an area known as Magida.
The astounding place consists of high rising boulders that look like primeval buildings towering several storeys high.
Up close they turn into sky-scraping tapered monolithic pillars looking like obelisks that used to exist in some hoary Roman and Greek cities.
“This is a new discovery, which must attract geologists, archaeologists and historians,” stated the Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) Senior Assistant Commissioner of Conservation, Godwell Meng’atak at the time of the pillars’ discovery.
According to SACP Meng’atak, the strange and virgin site was discovered in the southern parts of Ruaha during an aerial patrol of the park, using a helicopter, an expedition which was led by the commissioner himself.
Named ‘Ruaha Magic Site,’ the area has many giant structures complete with naturally formed streets between them, narrow alleys like Zanzibar’s stone town, unexplored caves and what looked like underground tunnels.
It also features high rock towers, stone boulders and giant rocks; while the ground has multi-coloured soil texture, ranging from black, ashy, red and brown.
But there is also evidence that ancient people could have lived in the area, because a couple of Neolithic tools, including stone grinders, have also been found at some locations of the site.
Likely to be a paradise for researchers, archaeologists and geologists, the Ruaha Magical Site, is already on fast track to become Tanzania’s newest tourist attraction.
“We are working hard to ensure a proper road is built to connect the site with entry points and other sides of the Ruaha,” the National Park Tourism Officer Grade II Gasper Kahabi.
Ruaha is the second biggest National Park in Tanzania, mapped within 20,000 square kilometers, with more than 70 percent of its area yet to be fully explored.
The Park is home to 15,000 giant elephants, over 20,000 buffaloes, 575 bird species, 300 ostriches, 15 species of reptiles, including oversized crocodiles and snakes as well as