We departed Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in SA on the 25th and endured 340 km of bone wracking gravel roads leading us to the Quiver Tree Forest Rest Camp.
We stayed one night and nearly froze to death in the cold wind that blew through the desert landscape. The wind was so strong we could hardly keep the fire going so we settled on a package of soup mix and an unknown type of sausage/hot dog that we grilled on a fork over the smoking blowing fire, the smoke infiltrating every fiber of our clothing and camper truck. Needless to say, my copilot was not too happy so I filled the hot water bottle and sent her off to an early 8:00 pm bed time.
The quiver tree is one of the most interesting and characteristic plants of the very hot and dry parts of Namibia and the northwestern part of the Cape Province of South Africa. It is not actually a tree but an Aloe plant. The plant is called a “Kokerboom” and was named as such because some Bushmen and Hottentot tribes used the tough, pliable bark and branches to make quivers for their arrows. “Koker” is the Afrikaans word for quiver.