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Keetmanshoop, Namibia is unique because the Quivertree Forest, Giant’s Playground, and fossil hunting around this dusty desert town really made our mouths drop. If you are looking for things to do around Keetmanshoop you’re in for a happy surprise.

Where is Keetmanshoop, Namibia?
Keetmanshoop is located in the Southern section of Namibia, at the junction of B1, B4 and C14 highways. It’s a small town with a couple choices for gas stations, grocery stores, and mechanic shops (in case you need any supplies!).
Keetmanshoop is about 3.5 hours from Luderitz via B4, about 3 hours from Vioolsdrif (the South African Border) via B1, and about 2.5 hours from Fish River Canyon via C37 and C12. It’s at a crossroads for the rest of Namibia.
Why Stop in Keetmanshoop?
The great thing about this area is the attractions surrounding it. If you are planning on a trip to Luderitz, it’s a great place to fuel up. It’s also a good stopping point if your next destination is further north.
Namibia does not have a lot of places for a self-driving road tripper to stop and get supplies, so basically anywhere that can get you what you need for the next leg of your trip is a good thing. If you need more information about driving in Namibia we wrote all the tips we learned from that.
There are plenty of things to do around Keetmanshoop, and it is for these reasons we think you should make this area a place to stop, explore, and stretch your legs.

Where we Found Accommodation Near Keetmanshoop:
Quivertree Forest Rest Camp
We didn’t stay in town, instead opting for the Quivertree Forest Rest Camp, accommodation near Keetmanshoop, which is about a 20-minute drive from town on C17, a dusty, corrugated road.
You can drive C17 in a 2-wheel drive car, but expect a bumpy ride (we managed to do about 2 weeks of our Namibian trip in a 2-wheeler before it broke. Wouldn’t recommend that!). If you need advice on renting a car in Namibia, we’ve written more about there here.
We paid $480 Namibian Dollars (NAD) (about $34 USD) for the first night, for the two of us, to camp. This fee included entrance to Quivertree Forest and Giant’s Playground which are both owned by the owners of the Rest Camp. For the second night, we paid $140 NAD (about $10 USD) each.
For entrance to the Quivertree Forest and Giant’s Playground, expect to pay about $100 NAD per person (about $7 USD) if you are not staying at the camp.
**These prices are for 2018 and may have gone up in 2019. Be sure to check their rates on the website if you have questions about them.
Overall, Quivertree Forest Rest Camp was OK. We stayed at a couple of camping sites throughout Namibia and this was not our favorite in terms of facilities and quiet, but it was the most convenient accommodation near Keetmanshoop for the things we wanted to see.
For a list of places we stayed in Namibia, check out the 11 campsites in Namibia we stayed at.
Mesosaurus Fossil Bush Camp
We didn’t stay at this camp and cannot speak to the accommodation there, however, this is further down C17 and likely to be more quiet than the Quivertree Forest Rest Camp.
We did go to get a tour of the Mesosaurus Fossil area and this camp was close to that attraction.
For rates and availability for this accommodation near Keetmanshoop, you can check out their website here.
How Long Should you do some Keetmanshoop Camping?
We stayed 1 day, 2 nights which was more than enough to see everything. Honestly, we’d recommend staying 1 night and taking most of a day to go see all the things to see around Keetmanshoop before driving on to your next destination.
Like with all places in Namibia, it’s important that you book in advance (a couple days is enough) so that you are guaranteed a place to camp or sleep. This area is not a hot-spot of tourist activity, but Namibia is not chuck-full of accommodation in general and accommodation near Keetmanshoop is somewhat limited. You don’t want to get caught out!
Camping is not the only option, of course. There are other alternatives that are pricier.
Things to See Around Keetmanshoop:
Visit the Quivertree Forest
It’s hard to put to words what a quivertree forest looks like in person, as the pictures don’t do it justice.

We walked into the forest at sunset and watched the sun sink through their spiky branches and liven up the sky with tremendous amounts of pink and magenta. There was a distant storm that first night and the entire sky was putting on a spectacular light show. We sat in awe until the world turned deep purple, then blue, and we had to walk back to camp.
The only thing to really ruin the moment was the occasional sound of the cars on the road.
This place felt like a land before time. Like we had stepped back in time by about 100 million years.
The forest is not too big, and easy to explore in a couple of hours. Be sure to wear sturdy shoes as there are a lot of loose rocks and the paths are not smooth.
We recommend going into the Quivertree Forest at either dawn or dusk as the daytime temperatures in Namibia can get really hot, making a walk through the grove really unbearable in the midday heat!
What are Quivertrees?
Quivertrees are not actually trees. They are of the same family as the aloe (looking at their leaves they strike a very similar resemblance). They will reach maturity after 200 years and stand very still even in strong winds.
Why are they called “quivertrees”? Because the san people (the old inhabitants of the area) would use the branches of the trees to hold their arrows while they went hunting. So, a quiver for their arrows and therefore: quivertree.
Visit Giant’s Playground

We visited “Giant’s Playground”, which is down the road C17, the next morning.
This attraction boasts massive amounts of rocks that are piled high, as if a giant came through and decided to precariously pile massive boulders on top of each other.
The rocks are called Dolerite and were formed 160 million years ago in a magma buildup under the Earth’s crust that never exploded. Over the millennia, the earth was eroded away and the cooled magma was exposed. The rocks get a black hue because of oxidation after years of being exposed at the surface.

Giant’s Playground was especially eerie for us because we were the only ones there and it seemed that every corner we turned looked exactly like the last corner, causing the mind to wonder if we had been there before.
The path is well marked with posts and signs so you don’t get lost, but even just climbing over a pile to get a look at the landscape made me nervous about getting lost. No cell coverage. No people. No road after a while.
The hike around the “Playground” only took about 40 minutes total and the price of admission was included with the cost of the ticket to the quiver tree forest which was about 100 Namibian dollars per person (roughly $7 USD).
If you plan to visit the Giant’s Playground, be sure to bring sturdy shoes and plenty of water! Also, tell the owners of the Quivertree Forest Rest Camp that you are going so they know you are in there. Namibia can be a really empty place and it’s important that people know where you are!
Go Find Mesosaurus Fossils
We drove further down the road (C17) to see the Mesosaurus fossils. The drive took about 30 minutes and we could do it in our 2-wheeler.

This, I think, was one of the coolest reasons to stop at this area. I love fossils and there was nothing but fossils here! It was so cool!
Giel, an old leathery farmer with bright blue eyes that twinkled with laughter (which he did quite a lot), took us on a wonderful one-hour tour of his farm to show us the amazing finds he has.

He showed us the grave of a German soldier who was shot and killed by the locals over one hundred years ago. Then he took us to the place where seriously well-preserved Mesosaurus fossils were lying in the sand. Too cool!
He explained how his son had found the fossils about 30 years ago and that he thought it was a salamander’s impression on sand. Upon further research from the local paleontologists at the local university, they learned about the small creatures (Mesosaurus!) that had once flourished in a murky swampy area that used to exist millions of years ago in what is now dry desert.
I gawked at the fossils. He even let us touch them (sacrilege!). The tour was $130 Namibian dollars per person (about $10USD). We didn’t make a reservation, we just drove up to the house at the Mesosaurus Bush Camp and asked about their next tour.
The tour was about 1 hour and we were the only two there so we had a whole tour to ourselves! Highly recommend going.
Best Time to go to Keetmanshoop, Namibia:
The dry season can be mid-April to late October. The wet season happens mainly from January to March. We were there in the “wet” season and really noticed nothing in the way of bad weather. There are parts of Namibia that can get very wet (like the Caprivi Strip) but down in the South, it’s a whole lot of desert.
The wet season is the low season in Namibia and you are less likely to hit crowds, although you aren’t likely to hit crowds period as Namibia doesn’t have a large number of tourism! Keetmanshoop camping is easy, however, and you’ll likely not be sharing the space with too many people.

Have you been to Keetmanshoop? What did you think!?
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Wow! What an amazing place! The photos look great! I wish I could be there now, but I’m trapped in the library. Haha
Haha! Thank You!
This looks like such a beautiful place! My husband and I are planning on doing a lot more traveling soon, and now I want to add this to our list of places to go!
I hope you get a chance to go to Namibia, it’s so overlooked, but it is a wonderful place to really road trip and see Africa.
Wow, this place looks surreal! Love the color contrast of the blue sky and red rocks! The fossils do look really interesting. Hope I can visit Keetmanshoop someday!
The fossils were so cool! This is a funky place. I hope you get a chance to see Namibia, it’s amazing.
This reminds me a lot of Arizona. I love the rocks and the contrast with the land. It is absolutely beautiful. I would love to visit.
It does have elements of Arizona, yes!
Wow, the photos are just fabulous! You did a great job sharing the views of Keetmanshoop to us. Being there must have been an wonderful experience!
Thank you! It was a great time!
WOW!! I’m so impressed by your entire blog! I’ve always wanted to travel and see more parts of the world, but having kids had delayed the process a little! My plan next year is to start taking them glob trotting with me! This was so inspiring, I will Deffo be subscribing!
This is so sweet of you to say! Thank you so much! I hope we can keep inspiring you! 🙂
WOW! Those photos don’t even look real they are so perfect? I have never seen sky that blue in my whole life, clearly I have been visiting the wrong places! Just gorgeous!
Dude. The sky down in Namibia is unbelievably blue! I’ve never seen anything like it!! I hope you get a chance to go!
Wow what a cool place! This is definitely going on my travel bucket list.
Xo, Sondra
Cuisineandtravel.com
You’d like the German food they have down here, I think!
Namibia is beautiful! I think that I’d also drop my mouth in shock after seeing such a forest…It looks beautifully strange you bet. The quiver tree, bushes and rocks are just things I’d snap with the camera!
Oh man! I almost cried being in there: it was UNREAL!
Really cool! I love these posts that can take me along a journey to really incredible and unfamiliar places !:)
Thank you! I am happy you stopped by!
This reminds me a lot of Arizona. I love the rocks and the contrast with the land. It is absolutely beautiful. I would love to visit.
It is a bit like AZ! The rocks are a lot of fun to climb over. I hope you get a chance to go.
This place looks amazing. This world is very beautiful so many places to see so little time. thanks for sharing it with us.
Oh gosh, that is so true. I feel like I will never be able to see everything I want to see!
This place looks so cool!! I love the name of your blog, so fun and creative!
Thank you Kristi! That is really nice of you!
Wow!These photos look unreal. It’s photos and blog posts like yours that inspire me to eventually travel further than the Caribbean!
I hope you do! The world is such a big place. South Africa is a stunning place to go see.
OMG! what an amazing place and the photos are wow.
Thanks! It was amazing.
this place looks amazing! kind of like Joshua Tree near me, but cooler!
Ohhhh I’ve always wanted to see Joshua Tree. We’ll get there one day!
I have never been there. it does look like such a fun adventure there. My daughter would love seeing all of the fossils.
I’ll bet she would! I think this would be a great place to bring a kid.
I haven’t been to keetmanshoop, but if there is dinosaur fossils there, I would love to bring my son there. He would love to be hunting for fossils all day long and probably would never wanted to leave.
Haha! I have no doubt he would love it!
Oh wow, such a charming place to visit! Loved your pic, everything look so beautiful and charming at my eyes!
Thank you for stopping by!
This looks like an amazing place to visit. My fiancé and I love to travel and see new things. I am going to add this to your summer bucket list. Thanks so much for this post.
XOXO
Elizabeth Keene
http://www.akeenesenseofstyle.com
Yay! I am so glad you are inspired! It’s a great place to go!
I think we just saw an episode of Naked and Afraid or Dude, You’re Screwed (both Discovery Channel shows) and the contestant(s) were set to survive in Namibia for a certain number of days. A great place to have an adventure.
Haha! I can’t imagine doing that without my 1st-world necessities! But I love the “Dude you’re Screwed” title LOL
These are some beautiful and breathtaking photos. I definitely would love to visit and see these sights for myself.
Thank you! I hope you get a chance to go someday!
Lived in Keetmanshoop from 1974 to 1980. Seeing these pics brought back memories of just how lucky we were. I miss the place and hope one day to return.
Oh I am so glad you were reminded of your time in Namibia from this post! We loved it there, such a great spot to spend some time in. Wholly unique.
I love your block guys, thanks for the information.
I am a Namibian and thrilled by your experience.
Thanks and travel more
Thank you for the kind words!