Quiver Trees & Giants Playground - Keetmanshoop

Keetmanshoop lies on the B4, 500 km south of Windhoek. It is the traffic junction and the economic centre for the whole south of Namibia. The town was founded as a mission station in 1866 and named after the German trader Johann Keetman who supported the mission financially.

About 13 kilometres north-east of Keetmanshoop lies the spectacular and much photographed Kokerboom or quiver tree forest on the farm Gariganus. The site has been declared a National Monument. The quiver tree or "Kokerboom" is indigenous to the hot and dry southern part of Namibia. The plants are succulents and can reach a height of up to 9 metres in height. They have adapted to the extreme environmental conditions by storing water in their trunks. The tree only blossoms for the first time after 20 to 30 years and can reach 300 years of age. The wood is very light and spongy inside. And because the trunk and branches can be easily hollowed out, they were used as quivers by the bushmen (San people) who formerly inhabited this area.

The Giant’s Playground takes its name from the fact that it appears as if a giant placed stone bricks on top of one another, like a child playing with wooden blocks. However, the place was actually formed hundreds of millions of years ago. The dolerite feature was formed approximately 180 million years ago, and formed by water erosion and win weathering.