Created by the architecte Frédéric Keiff in 2007, it looks like a palaver tree, whose trunk and branches are made of painted iron rods, while attached fragments of colored glass represent leaves.

The Arbre à Palabre by Frédéric Keiff is a palaver tree whose trunk and branches are made of painted iron rods, while attached fragments of colored glass represent leaves.

Initially conceived to substitute the former palaver tree of Douala, a huge baobab located in the district of Bonaberi, which fell down in 1993, the symbolic meaning of the installation forced some changes in the process.

However, it was important that Keiff’s installation was positioned in a public space, easily accessible to inhabitants in order to guarantee that the contemporary palaver tree would keep on holding its symbolic function as a meeting, discussion, and sharing point.

The park where the Arbre à Palabre is located belongs to the Bell family, even if the installation itself is in the public domain.