Scientific name: Hyphaena petersiana
Common name: Makalani palm
The silhouette of a makalani palm during sunset is an aesthetically stunning sight to behold. These palms are tall, one-stemmed trees with big dusty-green fronds spread out like a fan. Thus, the makalani is also known as the real fan palm. The leaves bring a pleated skirt to mind, with tiny sickle-shaped thorns along the margins. The tree bears clusters of rounded fruits which turn from green to brown as they ripen. Makalani palms can grow up to 10 metres high, while the fronds can reach a length of up to one metre. They are resilient trees with plenty of uses in rural communities as they provide timber as well as other raw material for a variety of products.
The leaves are tough, but livestock such as cattle nevertheless chew on them. Arts and crafts have always been a popular social activity among rural communities and women use palm leaves to weave baskets. It is a household art which can still be a source of extra income. Hand-woven baskets are mostly sold at the open markets and at cultural festivals. The baskets differ in size, patterns and colour. Dried leaves are dyed by boiling them in traditional natural dyes.
The petiole of the fronds is commonly used for fencing and making kitchen utensils. Sap is tapped from the makalani palm and left to ferment naturally. The sap is transparent, naturally sweet and appetizing. It is usually tapped between August and December. I assisted a fellow student on a study during 2016 where we looked into tapping methods and the importance of makalani sap to rural livelihoods in the Okalongo and Anamulenge constituencies in the Omusati Region. A total of 30 households were interviewed for the study, based on purposive sampling.
The findings indicated that the local population applies various criteria for selecting which trees to tap from: e.g. the colour of the leaves, the gender of trees, the size and the height of the stem as well as the immediate surroundings. The two common methods for tapping sap from the makalani palm tree are piercing and cutting. Piercing is said to be more sustainable for the survival of trees, as cutting can eventually cause the tree to dry out.
The makalani fruit has a shiny shell. The dry flesh is consumed by both humans and livestock. It can be quite tough and contains a lot of fibre. The only seed, known as vegetable ivory, is carved by craftsmen with various designs, from animals to plants, letters and signs – an ideal souvenir in the form of a keyring. The field study offered an opportunity to engage with communities. Never in my wildest dreams had I expected that the seeds of the makalani palm fruit can be burned into a powder to feed with pap to a dog suspected of having rabies. A remedy to cure rabies in dogs, compliments of indigenous knowledge. The rabies cure came up at least three times from respondents as we carried out this survey. An animal scientist could actually research the chemical composition of the powder from the makalani seed and its properties to treat rabies.
Scientific, indigenous knowledge and the arts had the most intriguing findings in this study. Eating marula kernels with the makalani palm fruit will always be a nostalgic experience, triggering childhood memories. Experiments are part and parcel of any discovery. In the rural communities, alcohol seems to be readily available because almost every fruit can be used to produce spirits. The flesh of the fruit is boiled and the process of distillation takes its course, producing a strong spirit that is 100% natural.
Agnes Shivute
