The Quiver Tree Forest is a forest and a well-known tourist

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

 attraction of southern Namibia

Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

. It is located about 14 km north of Keetmanshoop

Keetmanshoop

Keetmanshoop is a city in Karas Region, southern Namibia, lying on the Trans-Namib Railway from Windhoek to Upington in South Africa. It is named after Johann Keetman, a German industrialist and founder of the city....

, on the road to Koës

Koës

Koës is a village in the Karas Region of south-eastern Namibia. It belongs to the Keetmanshoop Rural electoral constituency.-References:...

, in the Gariganus farm. It comprises about 250 specimens of Aloe dichotoma

Aloe dichotoma

Aloe dichotoma, also known as Quiver tree or Kokerboom, is a species of aloe indigenous to Southern Africa, specifically in the Northern Cape region, and Namibia....

, a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of aloe

Aloe

Aloe , also Aloë, is a genus containing about 500 species of flowering succulent plants. The most common and well known of these is Aloe vera, or "true aloe"....

 that is also locally known as "quiver tree" (Afrikaans

Afrikaans

Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...

: kokerboom) because bushmen

Bushmen

The indigenous people of Southern Africa, whose territory spans most areas of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola, are variously referred to as Bushmen, San, Sho, Barwa, Kung, or Khwe...

 use its branches to make quiver

Quiver

A quiver is a container for arrows. Quivers have been traditionally made of leather, bark, wood, furs and other natural materials; modern quivers are often made of metal and plastic....

s. The forest is spontaneous; the highest quiver trees are 2–3 centuries old. The forest was declared a national monument

National monument

A National monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of national importance such as a war or the country's founding. The term may also refer to a specific monument status, such as a National Heritage Site, which most national monuments are by reason of their cultural...

 of Namibia on June 1, 1995.

In the surroundings of the forest there is another site of geological

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

 interest (itself a tourist attraction), the Giant's Playground, a vast pile of large dolerite rocks.

Other "Quiver Tree Forest"s

Although A. dichotoma is common in southern Africa, there are only a small number of quiver tree forests proper. Most have been created by men; one of them is found in the Karoo National Botanical Garden of Worcester, South Africa.