By Dr Sarah Venter

Baobab Project in Giyani

The Ramaano Baobab Project has three parts. One is to plant baobab trees at the Tribal Offices around Giyani.  Second to plant baobab trees in villages following the Baobab Guardians model and third is to educate young people about the ecology and conservation of baobabs. During the course of July, August and September Mr Ramaano planted baobab trees at 4 [...] Continue Reading
By Sarah Venter

Saving the Big Tree from graffiti monsters

The Madifha (Sagole) Big Tree is the biggest known baobab tree in the world with a girth of 34 meters.  The tree is managed by the Madifha-Zwigodini community who allow visitors to the tree every day for a small entry fee. Unfortunately, there are some insensitive visitors, that when no one is looking, spray their names on the magnificent bows [...] Continue Reading
By Dr Sarah Venter

Teaching kids about baobabs

Tshokotshoko Primary School A talk on the ecology of baobabs was given at Tshokotshoko Primary School which was attended by the Grade 6 and Grade 7 pupils.  Each pupil was given the Tshivenda version of  “Little Big Baobab Book”. Tshokotshoko Primary School is a small school, situated in a very remote part of Niyani (northern Limpopo) and is surrounded by [...] Continue Reading
By Dr Sarah Venter

Baobab Books to 1000 Primary School Learners

On completing my PhD on the ecology of baobabs in northern Venda I decided to write an easy-to-read booklet on baobabs.  The purpose of this booklet was to share the importance knowledge of baobabs I had gained with South Africans and in particular the people who live in the area I did my research.  In 2016 I completed the booklet [...] Continue Reading
By Dr Sarah Venter

Lets learn about baobabs

Surrounded by majestic baobabs, Domboni Primary School is situated on the edge the remote village of Domboni in northern Venda.    I arrived at the school in the middle of one of their English lessons.  It must have been a relief to the children, when I switched to TshiVenda, their home language,  to talk about environmental conservation and baobabs.  I’m sure [...] Continue Reading
By Dr Sarah Venter

I live under a baobab, don’t know much about it, but now I do!

Nearly every child in Africa knows what a baobab tree is.  Nearly child in Africa eats baobab powder.  But beyond knowing what the tree looks like and that it has a nutritious fruit, very little is generally known about their ecology.   The Little Big Baobab Book (free pdf download available here) addresses FAQ’s of baobabs.  Translated into TshiVenda and easy [...] Continue Reading
By Elthea Schlesinger

A culture of caring, fun and rewarding!

Our local newspaper, Zoutpansberger, recently partnered with the Baobab Foundation, to launch a school project to boost the region’s wild baobab population.Coined the Baobab Champion competition, more than 230 baobab starter-kits with 15 seeds each inside, were distributed to participating pupils of 4 local schools. That amounts to 3450 potential new Baobab trees for South Africa! Youth excited to create […] Continue Reading