Day 01
Full-Day Visit to the Nyero Rock Paintings
- Wake up and have breakfast at your hotel at 8:30. Our guide will pick you up and begin the journey to Nyero Rocks.
- Nyero Rock Paintings feature three magnificent rocks with ancient writings believed to have been engraved during the Stone Age period before 1250 CE. It is one of the best places for archaeological visitors and historians.
- The Nyero Rock Paintings area is believed to have been settled by Batwa-like people before the current Iteso residents settled here.
- UNESCO recognized the Nyero Rock Paintings as a World Heritage Site on 10 September 1997.
- The Batwa people, believed to have created the paintings, were renowned hunter-gatherers of pygmy origin. They migrated from the area when the current inhabitants settled and now live in the Rwanda and Congo areas. The rock sites are believed to have been sacred places to the gods.
- Nyero Rock Paintings are associated with different local stories that will be narrated to you by your tour guide. The drawings on the Nyero rocks are similar to those found in Karamoja, Ngora, Pallisa, Dolwe Island in Lake Victoria, and Kaberamaido.
- The rock paintings represent figures of animals, canoes, and circles. Researchers have described these paintings as geometric in nature, and the type of rock art at Nyero is believed to be part of the homogeneous tradition depicted in red pigment.
- The Nyero rock site has six shelters, each containing its own unique drawings. Although the mysterious painters are not clearly known, the Iteso people used to pay tribute to the gods here until the 1970s, and some traces of smoke are still evident. People used to visit the rocks to seek solutions for problems such as lack of rain, childbearing, and many others.
- Nyero 1 has six sets of concentric circles with paintings shaped like acacia pods. Nyero 2 features paintings done in shades of red with more than forty different drawings. There is also a small cavity known as the pocket, believed to have been a place where inhabitants used to put their offerings for the gods.
- Nyero 3 contains paintings in concentric white circles, with outer circles surrounded by double-curved designs and double lines in between, divided into smaller compartments.
- Nyero 4 contains three small red concentric circles, colonial shapes, and lines. Nyero 5 has a red geometric motif with a combination of linear and circular shapes made by brush and finger, although some of the paintings here have been affected by running water erosion.
- Nyero 6 offers spectacular views, as it is situated on top of the hill. It contains two small oval finger-painted shapes and a slanting L shape.
- Nyero Rock Paintings can be accessed west of Kumi town on Ngora Road, about 8 kilometers from town. Kumi is about 250 kilometers from Kampala. On arrival, tourists pay an affordable entry fee and are provided with a guide who will take you through the history of the place.
- Tourists visiting the Nyero Paintings can get accommodation in Kumi town or Soroti town.
- The Nyero Rock Paintings can be visited all year round. The rocks can be a bit slippery during the wet season, so bringing good hiking boots is advised.
