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The Fairy Tale Forest of Etosha Park.
This unique forest is about 32 kilometres west of Okaukuejo and covers an area of approximately one square kilometre. The fairy-tale tree (Moringa ovalifolia) is in Namibia only and occurs from Naukluft in the south to Kunene Region in the north. What makes the Fairy-Tale Forest unique is that the trunks of these trees are particularly knobbly except on the Halali hills, where their boxes are pretty smooth and upright. The trees usually only grow on the slopes of mountains and hills, and Etosha is the only place where the trees grow in such numbers on the plains.
The San People described them as upside-down trees since they believed the trees were thrown out of paradise in anger and landed upside-down.
Moringa ovalifolia
The genus Moringa consists of 9 species. These Moringa trees are high in nutritional value and an excellent detox remedy. You can find these moringa trees only in southern Africa, north-eastern Africa, Madagascar and India. The only endemic southern African species, Moringa ovalifolia, is an inhabitant of northern Namibia and south-western Angola. This species is a smooth-stemmed, stem-succulent tree growing 7 meters tall. This species is widespread on northern Namibia's many granitic and dolomite hills.
The species M. oleifera Lam. is originally from India. It came from India to the shores of Namibia. And is well established in In South Africa, you can find the trees in the Northern Province and KwaZulu-Natal, where it is highly prized for its edible leaves and horse-radish-flavoured roots.
Elephants enjoy eating the Moringa Trees. Some of these trees are bearing the impact of the elephants.
