The Monkey Orange Fruit in Namibia

The Monkey Orange fruit is one of the most delicious wild fruits grown in Namibia. It is well known as the Kavango Lemon by locals in Namibia.

When fully ripe, it has firm skin and a bright orange interior. The inside of the orange fruit contains sweet-sour, juicy, light to dark brown seeds. You eat the orange fruit by sucking the delicious flesh from these seeds, this process can get messy.

Some locals sun-dry these seeds for preservation and make them into an alcoholic beverage. You can use the fruits as a dessert as well. The hard shell after the seeds are removed can also be used to create sound boxes for marimba musical instruments.

The seeds, leaves, and roots are also used for medicine. Kavango Lemons are found in the northern and northeastern parts of Namibia mainly from September to January.

The benefits of monkey orange fruit are that it has potential health benefits that are attributable to high energy fiber, minerals (iron & zinc), and vitamin C.