Kosi Bay Raffia Palms

There are many reasons to visit Kosi Bay, not least because it is wild and lovely. It is the furthest north you can go on South Africa’s East Coast, and it is part of the Maputaland Coral Coast, but for tree lovers, the biggest attraction is the Palms. 

©Roger de la Harpe
Giant Palm or Raffia Palm (Raphia australis), Kosi Bay.

These are not just any old common desert or garden palms, but Raffia Palms, and the thing about Raffia Palms is that they are so … theatrical.

For starters, they have the largest leaves of any tree in the world. Dependent on the raffia palm's ivory-coloured seeds that are hidden within the plants' nuts, themselves the size and colour of largish chocolate Easter eggs, is a bird of equal intrigue — the Palm Nut Vulture. The other exciting thing about raffia palms is that they grow in crocodile-infested swamps.

By David Bristow