• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to footer
A Pair of Travel Pants - Logo

A Pair of Travel Pants

# a pair of travel pants

  • Blog
  • Where We’ve Been
    • Asia
      • Cambodia
      • Hong Kong
      • Japan
      • Singapore
      • Sri Lanka
      • Thailand
      • Vietnam
    • Oceania
      • Australia
      • Fiji
      • New Zealand
    • North America
      • USA
        • New Mexico
        • New York City
        • New York State
    • Europe
      • Croatia
      • Czech Republic
      • France
      • Germany
      • Hungary
      • Poland
      • Portugal
      • Scotland
      • Spain
      • The Netherlands
    • Africa
      • Botswana
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Zimbabwe
      • Morocco
    • The Caribbean
      • Saint Martin – Sint Maarten
  • Essentials
    • Travel Insurance
    • Renting a Car
    • Staying in Touch Overseas
    • Travel Resources
  • Our Gear
    • Backpacks
    • Men’s Clothes
    • Women’s Clothes
    • Toiletries / Medical
    • Gadgets
    • Misc
  • Contact Us
Home / Blog / Africa / Namibia / Things to See Around Keetmanshoop, Namibia

Things to See Around Keetmanshoop, Namibia

  • Featured
  • Namibia
  • Recommendations
April 18, 2018 by Natalie 52 Comments

  • 1
  •  
  • 29
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
    30
    Shares

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.

Jackson was busy getting blown away by this amazing looking quivertree.

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.

Tourradar

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.

Enjoying the sunset in the Quivertree Forest in Namibia
Enjoying the sunset in the Quivertree Forest in Namibia

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.

The quivertree forest.

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

Giant's Playground in Namibia
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.

paths in Giant's Playground, Namibia: very helpful when hiking!
Thank goodness for these signs, didn’t want to get lost in there!

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.

Fossils! A great reason to go to Keetmanshoop, Namibia
Fossils! Everywhere!

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.

Geil, a farmer, explaining the fossils in the area one of the best things to do around Keetmanshoop, Namibia
Geil explaining the fossils and history of the area to us. 

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.

Rock formations at Giant's Playground, Namibia
More rock formations at Giant’s Playground

 

 

Have you been to Keetmanshoop? What did you think!? 

  • 1
  •  
  • 29
  •  
  •  
  •  

  • exploration
  • nature
  • trees

Related Posts

  • Swakopmund, Namibia
  • Luderitz Camera Roll
  • Tips for Renting a Car in Namibia
  • 11 Details to Know about Travel in Namibia
  • Fish River Canyon Camera Roll
  • Fish River Canyon: A First Stop in Namibia

Hi, we’re Natalie and Jackson: a trans-continental couple who met in New York City in 2013 and haven’t been apart since. We got married in June 2015 and have been traveling around the world together.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Alice says

    April 28, 2018 at 2:35 pm

    Wow! What an amazing place! The photos look great! I wish I could be there now, but I’m trapped in the library. Haha

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      April 29, 2018 at 3:48 am

      Haha! Thank You!

      Reply
  2. Jessica Joachim says

    April 28, 2018 at 4:08 pm

    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!

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      April 29, 2018 at 3:47 am

      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.

      Reply
  3. Carrie Liu says

    April 28, 2018 at 6:05 pm

    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!

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      April 29, 2018 at 3:46 am

      The fossils were so cool! This is a funky place. I hope you get a chance to see Namibia, it’s amazing.

      Reply
  4. Julie Plagens says

    April 28, 2018 at 10:59 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      April 29, 2018 at 3:44 am

      It does have elements of Arizona, yes!

      Reply
  5. Victor Step says

    April 29, 2018 at 4:48 am

    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!

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      April 30, 2018 at 1:16 pm

      Thank you! It was a great time!

      Reply
  6. With Love From P says

    April 29, 2018 at 3:10 pm

    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!

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      April 30, 2018 at 1:15 pm

      This is so sweet of you to say! Thank you so much! I hope we can keep inspiring you! 🙂

      Reply
  7. Laura Dove says

    April 29, 2018 at 3:48 pm

    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!

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      April 30, 2018 at 1:14 pm

      Dude. The sky down in Namibia is unbelievably blue! I’ve never seen anything like it!! I hope you get a chance to go!

      Reply
  8. Sondra Barker says

    April 30, 2018 at 2:21 am

    Wow what a cool place! This is definitely going on my travel bucket list.
    Xo, Sondra
    Cuisineandtravel.com

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      April 30, 2018 at 1:14 pm

      You’d like the German food they have down here, I think!

      Reply
  9. Dalene Ekirapa says

    April 30, 2018 at 3:26 am

    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!

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      April 30, 2018 at 1:13 pm

      Oh man! I almost cried being in there: it was UNREAL!

      Reply
  10. Yuli says

    April 30, 2018 at 4:02 am

    Really cool! I love these posts that can take me along a journey to really incredible and unfamiliar places !:)

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      April 30, 2018 at 1:13 pm

      Thank you! I am happy you stopped by!

      Reply
  11. Minakshi Bajpai says

    April 30, 2018 at 6:01 am

    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.

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      April 30, 2018 at 1:12 pm

      It is a bit like AZ! The rocks are a lot of fun to climb over. I hope you get a chance to go.

      Reply
  12. karamel_kc says

    April 30, 2018 at 7:05 am

    This place looks amazing. This world is very beautiful so many places to see so little time. thanks for sharing it with us.

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      April 30, 2018 at 1:11 pm

      Oh gosh, that is so true. I feel like I will never be able to see everything I want to see!

      Reply
  13. Kristi Ann says

    April 30, 2018 at 8:26 am

    This place looks so cool!! I love the name of your blog, so fun and creative!

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      April 30, 2018 at 1:11 pm

      Thank you Kristi! That is really nice of you!

      Reply
  14. Le says

    April 30, 2018 at 9:52 am

    Wow!These photos look unreal. It’s photos and blog posts like yours that inspire me to eventually travel further than the Caribbean!

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      April 30, 2018 at 1:10 pm

      I hope you do! The world is such a big place. South Africa is a stunning place to go see.

      Reply
  15. Manvika Reddy says

    April 30, 2018 at 4:31 pm

    OMG! what an amazing place and the photos are wow.

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      May 3, 2018 at 6:35 am

      Thanks! It was amazing.

      Reply
  16. shanelle says

    May 1, 2018 at 12:57 am

    this place looks amazing! kind of like Joshua Tree near me, but cooler!

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      May 3, 2018 at 6:36 am

      Ohhhh I’ve always wanted to see Joshua Tree. We’ll get there one day!

      Reply
  17. David Allen Elliott says

    May 1, 2018 at 3:14 am

    I have never been there. it does look like such a fun adventure there. My daughter would love seeing all of the fossils.

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      May 3, 2018 at 6:37 am

      I’ll bet she would! I think this would be a great place to bring a kid.

      Reply
  18. Leo T. Ly says

    May 1, 2018 at 8:29 am

    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.

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      May 3, 2018 at 6:37 am

      Haha! I have no doubt he would love it!

      Reply
  19. Agentszerozerosetter says

    May 1, 2018 at 10:13 am

    Oh wow, such a charming place to visit! Loved your pic, everything look so beautiful and charming at my eyes!

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      May 3, 2018 at 6:49 am

      Thank you for stopping by!

      Reply
  20. Elizabeth Keene says

    May 1, 2018 at 11:06 am

    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

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      May 3, 2018 at 6:49 am

      Yay! I am so glad you are inspired! It’s a great place to go!

      Reply
  21. Kristyn Medriano says

    May 1, 2018 at 10:42 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      May 3, 2018 at 6:50 am

      Haha! I can’t imagine doing that without my 1st-world necessities! But I love the “Dude you’re Screwed” title LOL

      Reply
  22. Toughcookiemommy says

    May 13, 2018 at 5:03 pm

    These are some beautiful and breathtaking photos. I definitely would love to visit and see these sights for myself.

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      May 17, 2018 at 3:18 pm

      Thank you! I hope you get a chance to go someday!

      Reply
  23. Bob Gregg says

    June 21, 2019 at 11:58 am

    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.

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      June 30, 2019 at 11:54 am

      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.

      Reply
  24. Law Kavari says

    January 27, 2021 at 5:13 am

    I love your block guys, thanks for the information.
    I am a Namibian and thrilled by your experience.
    Thanks and travel more

    Reply
    • Natalie says

      February 14, 2021 at 12:40 pm

      Thank you for the kind words!

      Reply

Leave a comment Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Footer

This page may contain affiliate links. This means that if you buy/book anything we recommend through A Pair of Travel Pants, we receive a small commision, at no extra cost to you! It’s a small way of helping us fund our travels. Thank you for your support!

  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us

Copyright 2023 Natalie & Jackson


  • Skinny Jeans icon designed by Dorian Dawance
  • Pants icon designed by Oliviu Stoian
  • Backpack icon designed by Jonathan Collie
  • Backpack icon designed by Jonathan Collie

‹›x