Between Nieuwoudtville and Loeriesfontein one turns off onto the gravel road to the south for visiting the Quiver Tree Forest. Closer inspection of this forest instead of merely slowing down for viewing is a must.

Do nothing else but pay respects and marvel at the magnificence of yet another example of nature’s ingenuity. The rare feat of conjuring this multitude of such large, thickset bodies in open semi-desert is overwhelming. Resources are scant. What lives here is beset by drought and heat; its foiling of adversity remarkable.

The old trees broaden the bases of their pale, orange-yellow trunks as they lose the dense roundness of ageing crowns. Palpable silence among the trees tests the ear, is not quite empty.