About TheTREEAPP
Explore. Discover. Treasure.
We built TheTreeApp to make that
moment easier to reach — and a lot more fun.
This simple idea sits at the heart of TheTreeApp. A tree is just “a tree” until you start to notice its details, recognise its shape, and understand where it fits. Until you know its name.
01
Explore
Wherever you are — in the bush, on a hike, a drive, at a roadside stop, or at home. Curiosity doesn’t need a perfect setting. It just needs a starting point.
02
Discover
The textures of bark, the shape of a leaf, the role a species plays in its ecosystem, the stories passed down through generations — the ways people have used, named and understood these trees long before field guides.
03
Treasure
Not just the tree, but the moment of recognition. The record of where you saw it. The growing sense that the landscape is becoming familiar in a new way — because you now know what you’re looking at.
That’s what lasts.
South Africa has more than a thousand indigenous tree species — a living archive of biodiversity, resilience and cultural meaning. Yet much of it goes unseen. At the same time, these systems are under pressure — from habitat loss, climate change and a growing disconnect between people and the natural world.
We want to help close that gap. We want to make learning about South Africa’s indigenous trees feel accessible, intuitive and genuinely rewarding.
Because what we recognise, we begin to value. And what we value, we’re more likely to protect.
#learntolove1000trees
About TheTreeApp’s founder and innovator: Val Thomas – storyteller, publisher and lifelong explorer of South Africa’s wild places.
At the root of TheTreeApp is Val Thomas — storyteller, publisher and lifelong explorer of South Africa’s wild places. Together with her husband, Peter, she spent decades travelling through landscapes like the Kruger National Park, photographing and mapping the subtle shifts between habitats, and learning how deeply trees shape the natural world around them. Their pioneering work on the Kruger ecozones map grew from a belief that plants and wildlife can only truly be understood within the habitats where they naturally occur. By helping people recognise the subtle shifts between landscapes and vegetation types, the project changed the way many visitors and naturalists understood biodiversity in the Kruger ecosystem.
It was really Val’s fascination with trees that was her driving force. Travelling through the bush with her young children, she would keep a suitcase full of tree books on the front seat of the car, constantly stopping to identify unfamiliar species along the way. Over time, she realised there had to be a simpler, more intuitive way to learn — something less intimidating than paging through heavy botanical guides in the middle of the veld.
As co-author of the well-known Sappi Tree Spotting series, Val went on to spend more than 30 years making natural history more accessible and engaging. Yet even after producing countless field guides, she still believed technology could make tree identification easier and more enjoyable for ordinary people.
That idea became TheTreeApp, a platform designed to translate dense botanical knowledge into clear, accessible “plant-English”. For Val, trees have never been mere background scenery. They shape ecosystems, support biodiversity and quietly sustain life every day. She has also always been intrigued by the stories rooted in them — the ways trees are woven into traditional medicine, folklore and daily life across South Africa.
Through TheTreeApp, Val wanted to open that world to everyone, from experienced botanists and guides to schoolchildren, hikers and first-time tree enthusiasts discovering the wonder of recognition for the very first time.
