Phantom tree

The white, pot-bellied trunks of the moringas in Etosha’s “Fairy-tale Forest” look as if they were growing upside down, roots in the air.

Moringa ovalifolia is a succulent tree up to 7 m tall, with a thick, bottle-shaped, silvery-white trunk in which it stores water, and short, contorted branches. For most of the dry season it is leafless, and when the rains arrive it puts out delicate, pinnate leaves and small, creamy flowers. It grows on stony slopes and plains in the hot, dry parts of north-western Namibia. It is endemic to Namibia and south-western Angola and is related to the drumstick tree, widely grown in the tropics.

Significance in the country

In Etosha National Park, west of Okaukuejo, grows a stand of these trees called “Sprokieswoud” (the Fairy-tale Forest), one of the most extraordinary places in the park. Their ghostly appearance by moonlight earned them the Afrikaans name spookboom, meaning phantom tree.

Where it grows

Central and north-western Namibia: western Etosha and the Kaokoveld (Kunene), the Erongo and Brandberg mountains, and the areas around Windhoek and in Otjozondjupa.

More: Wikipedia (en)