It is found in Burundi, Rwanda, the DRC, Tanzania, Angola, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and the northern and north-eastern Limpopo.

As with other Hyphaene species, H. petersiana is dioicous and the female plants produce copious fruit of around 60 mm in diameter.

Repeated cutting of the growth point to obtain sap for palm wine production may eventually destroy the trees.

Beneath the outer fibrous husk of the fruit is a core of white endosperm known as vegetable ivory, initially soft and edible and containing some liquid comparable to coconut milk.

[5] The Ovambo people call the fruit of the Makalani palm eendunga and use it to distill ombike, their traditional liquor.