A 2008 discovery at Nani Hill, on the northern border of Tanzania, near Loliondo, Ngorongoro District, Arusha Region, of high-quality bright sparkling orange spessartine garnet with great clarity and a high refractive index, led to this new material being called in the gem trade ‘Tulelei’ garnet (from the local Maasai word meaning orange). Nani Hill is a relatively new locality for fine spessartine garnet and rare orange Kyanite. Located about 22 miles (35 km) NE of Loliondo village proper, it is ‘in the middle of nowhere’. Another village called Lemisikio is nearby. The place name, also assigned by the local Masai tribesmen, is new and both the locality and its nearest villages are expanding rapidly with the arrival of new residents responding to the ‘garnet rush’.

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