The bark of Senegalia galpinii is grey and longitudinally furrowed on the lower stems of mature and large trees. Young trees and higher parts of all trees have a section of the stem surface that is corky and flakes in rectangular strips. Still higher up this section turns paler to a cream colour and becomes papery in texture.

Only the young upper branches and new growth are grey-green and hairless. These branches are covered in scattered lenticels prior to the bark becoming papery. The lenticels widen as the stems grow thicker.

The young branches have pairs of hooked prickles. They are dark, sharp and fiercely unrelenting, positioned immediately below each node. The prickles or hooked thorns become up to 1 cm in length. A few of them persist on bigger stems up to the flaking bark stage (Carr, 1976; Coates Palgrave, 2002).