Keetmanshoop Keetmanshoop is the traffic junction and the economic centre for the whole south of Namibia. The small town hardly counts 15,000 inhabitants and is of little touristic interest, though there are some quite good hotels and even a caravan park. About 20 km north of Keetmanshoop lies the spectacular and much photographed Kokerboom or quiver tree forest on the farm Gariganus.
				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. They have adapted to the extreme environmental conditions by storing water in their trunks. The tree 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. As the trunk and branches can be easily hollowed out, they were used as quivers by the bushmen who formerly roamed this area. Travel tips on the i-page.
					Top: Popular motive: Quiver trees in the evening light. Left: Quiver trees can be found throughout the south of Namibia. On Gariganus they are particularly numerous.
	Namibia: [General] [History] [Government] [Windhoek] [Climate] [Vegetation] [Farming] [Roads] The South: [Fish River Canyon] [Ai-Ais] [Keetmanshoop] [Aus] [Luederitz] [History] [Kolmanskop] [Sossusvlei] [Ballooning] [Orange] The North: [Swakopmund] [Welwitschia] [Spitzkop] [Twyfelfontein] [Waterberg] [Hereroland] [Grootfontein] [Bushmanland] [Etosha National Park] [Kaokoland] [Himba] [Caprivi]
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