The quiver tree

These quiver trees, like the one with the moon, become a popular photography subject. In Latin with the friendly name Aloidendron dichotomum, these trees get their colloquial name from their use by the San people for hollowing out for quivers. The wood is extremely lightweight and you could easily lift a large branch that, in oak, would be unmoveable.

The Latin part "dichotomum" refers to the way it grows with the branches splitting in two each time creating a very distinctive shape. Like all trees round here, you don't see Forests, just lone individuals each carving out their own territory (from the water table) in this inhospitable landscape. It's not easy to take a bad photo of them.