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Quiver trees appear dispersed in southern Namibia and the northern provinces of South Africa. At Keetmanshoop there is a whole forest of it ... or what in Namibia is called as a forest.
Quiver trees are among the aloe plants and have lanceolate leaves similar to the jucca. They grow on dry, rocky sites and become up to 10 meters high. The stem contains a fuller marrow, which can easily be removed in the dry state. The name of the quiver tree is due to the fact that the San used the branches or trunks hollowed out as arrow boxes.
The quiver tree is one of the national symbols of Namibia. And this collection of quiver trees (of forest I dont speak!) is probably quite well known. That's why I'm not the only photographer at sunset. It is rather difficult to take pictures without a person running into the picture. But so is normal at the tourist hotspots all over the world.
Welcome to Africa, AKA the motherland! Check out African Internet Radio while you're scoping the panoramas.The earliest fossil of the homo sapiens family (human beings) was found in Ethiopia, dating back more than 200,000 years. Compared to this length of time, even the "ancient Sumerians" from 6000 B.C. are drooling toddlers.Let's mention a few African heroes you may have heard of, for inspiration in the face of the continued economic inequality and violence which plague Africa today: Nelson Mandela, first democratically elected President of South Africa, who fought against apartheid and served 27 years in prison while advocating freedom and peace. Haile Salassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, who resisted Mussolini and the fascist Italian invasion of WWII, and who is worshipped as an incarnation of God by the Rastafari movement. Kwame Nkrumah, first Prime Minister of Ghana, advocate of uniting Africa in Pan-Africanism. Fela Kuti, inventor of Afrobeat music, who declared his home to be an independent state, ran for president of Nigeria, and to whose funeral ONE MILLION PEOPLE came to pay their respects.In June 2001 the African Union was formed, consisting of 53 African States organized, like in the EU, around common economic and political development.Text by Steve Smith.
