By Roxanne Reid
Not far from Keetmanshoop in southern Namibia is the Quivertree Forest. The sheer number of these aloe trees here makes them special. Nearby at Giant’s Playground, huge boulders form strange patterns like massive Lego bricks. Find out how to visit Quivertree Forest and Giant’s Playground, Namibia, and where to stay when you do.
Not far from Keetmanshoop in southern Namibia is the Quivertree Forest. The sheer number of these aloe trees here makes them special. Nearby at Giant’s Playground, huge boulders form strange patterns like massive Lego bricks. Find out how to visit Quivertree Forest and Giant’s Playground, Namibia, and where to stay when you do.
Quivertree Forest
About 14km north-east of the town of Keetmanshoop in southern Namibia, along the C17 to Koës, you’ll find the entrance to the natural Quiver Tree Forest on your left. Stop at the reception office to pay an entrance fee for both this and the Giant’s Playground a few kilometres further on. The cost in mid 2018 was N$90 per person for both sites together.
Drive through the main gates of the Quivertree camp, turn right and go past the campsite to a parking area where you can leave your car and walk up a rocky path to see the army of quiver trees. There are some 200-odd individual trees here, beautiful specimens of the succulent Aloe dichotoma that stand like strange statues silhouetted against the sky.
About 14km north-east of the town of Keetmanshoop in southern Namibia, along the C17 to Koës, you’ll find the entrance to the natural Quiver Tree Forest on your left. Stop at the reception office to pay an entrance fee for both this and the Giant’s Playground a few kilometres further on. The cost in mid 2018 was N$90 per person for both sites together.
Drive through the main gates of the Quivertree camp, turn right and go past the campsite to a parking area where you can leave your car and walk up a rocky path to see the army of quiver trees. There are some 200-odd individual trees here, beautiful specimens of the succulent Aloe dichotoma that stand like strange statues silhouetted against the sky.
The quiver tree (kokerboom in Afrikaans) is Namibia’s national tree and is protected. This forest has been declared a national monument.
The tree grows in rocky areas of desert and semi-desert, but is coming under increasing threat from climate change. It got its name because the San hollowed out its tube-like branches to make quivers to stash their poisoned arrows during the hunt. The trunks of dead quiver trees were also used as natural fridges to store water and meat because the fibrous tissue has a cooling effect as air passes through it.
The tree grows in rocky areas of desert and semi-desert, but is coming under increasing threat from climate change. It got its name because the San hollowed out its tube-like branches to make quivers to stash their poisoned arrows during the hunt. The trunks of dead quiver trees were also used as natural fridges to store water and meat because the fibrous tissue has a cooling effect as air passes through it.
The quiver tree can live 100-250 years but only starts flowering when it’s at least 20 or 30 years old. If you visit the Quivertree Forest in winter (May to July) you’ll see them in bright yellow bloom, the nectar attracting birds and insects.
Young rock hyrax (dassie)
On your walk among these special trees, you may also spot some birds or dassies (rock hyrax) scuttling over the rocks. Don’t miss the trees that are festooned with sociable weavers’ nests – amazing communal nests that can have up to 50 chambers and accommodate 200 to 500 birds. The nests are so well insulated that the temperature inside never rises to more than 30 degrees Celsius in summer or falls below 15 in winter, no matter what the external temperature.
Giant’s Playground
From the Quivertree Forest, drive east for another 5km and you’ll come to a gate on the right-hand side of the road that leads to the Giant’s Playground.
From the Quivertree Forest, drive east for another 5km and you’ll come to a gate on the right-hand side of the road that leads to the Giant’s Playground.
Park your car and follow the short walk that lets you see some dolerite rock formations that are between 160 and 180 million years old. Back then, the super-continent of Pangaea was separating because of tectonic plate movement. Molten lava flowed through cracks in the overlying rock, and then millions of years of erosion weathered away the softer sedimentary rock to expose the hard dolerite.
The signposted walk is not a long one so take your time to appreciate formations that look like giant building bricks with their crazy shapes and configurations, big and small. Some rocks teeter precariously, held in place only by the weight of another rock. Have fun imagining what the shapes are – from arches to cannons and weird people.
Where to stay in the area
When you visit the Quivertree Forest and Giant’s Playground near Keetmanshoop in southern Namibia, pitch camp a little further on at Mesosaurus Fossil Camp. It’s much nicer than the Quivertree Forest or Giant’s Playground campsites, or even the basic chalets at Quivertree Forest. You’ll find Mesosaurus Fossil Camp 24km from Quivertree Forest along the C17 to Koës.
When you visit the Quivertree Forest and Giant’s Playground near Keetmanshoop in southern Namibia, pitch camp a little further on at Mesosaurus Fossil Camp. It’s much nicer than the Quivertree Forest or Giant’s Playground campsites, or even the basic chalets at Quivertree Forest. You’ll find Mesosaurus Fossil Camp 24km from Quivertree Forest along the C17 to Koës.
Although the road was corrugated when we visited, once we got there we were glad we’d made the extra effort. The chalets and main campsite are nice enough, but the pick of the accommodation in my opinion is the bush camp (no power, but donkey boiler for hot water). It’s private (about 3km from the main camp), close to nature, and with sites fairly well spaced apart.
If you don’t want to pay to see the ’official’ Quivertree Forest, I can promise you that you will see just as many quiver trees, if not more, from your campsite at Mesosaurus Fossil Camp. You’ll be up early to photograph them in the lilac-pink dawn light, and back again for more when sunset zhooshes up the sky. There’s lots of dolerite rock similar to Giant’s Playground for you to explore as well.
See more about the camp and things to do there in my blog post Mesosaurus Fossil Camp: camping in Namibia near Keetmanshoop.
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If you don’t want to pay to see the ’official’ Quivertree Forest, I can promise you that you will see just as many quiver trees, if not more, from your campsite at Mesosaurus Fossil Camp. You’ll be up early to photograph them in the lilac-pink dawn light, and back again for more when sunset zhooshes up the sky. There’s lots of dolerite rock similar to Giant’s Playground for you to explore as well.
See more about the camp and things to do there in my blog post Mesosaurus Fossil Camp: camping in Namibia near Keetmanshoop.
Like it? Pin this image!
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