By Dr Sarah Venter

Plantation-style baobabs

Young baobabs are being planted in “plantation-style” in seven homesteads in Mabvete village in northern Venda.  This method is being used to boost the young baobabs growth so that they reach a “safe” height before wild planting.  See post here. Newly planted baobabs in plantation-style This week we visited the trees to see how they were doing.  We tagged each [...] Continue Reading
By Dr Sarah Venter

Wild planting baobabs at Nthakeni

Nthakeni is a lovely spot on the Mutale River in communal land situated near the northern Pafuri gate of the Kruger National Park.  The area is leased from the Nkotswi community and has been fenced allowing the natural vegetation to grow and seedlings to recruit without disturbance of domestic animals.  Nthakeni is thus one of the few places where baobabs [...] Continue Reading
By Dr Sarah Venter

The challenge of wild planting baobabs

Young baobabs are delicious especially to goats, impala and baboons.  So a multipronged approach is needed.  One is to identify areas that don’t have these animals and use their absence to successfully establish baobabs (watch this space) or where these animals are plentiful to find creative solutions. The first approach was to simply protect the young trees with wire cages, [...] Continue Reading
By Dr Sarah Venter

Another 22 baobabs and counting

Baobabs on confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers continue to be vulnerable to the over utilization by elephants.  The only way to effectively protect baobabs from elephants is to wrap them in wire mesh.  In November 2023 the Baobab Foundation wrapped another 22 baobabs in wire mesh.  Over the course of three days another 15 baobabs were protected in [...] Continue Reading
By Dr Sarah Venter

Grow your own baobab

Baobabs produce a large fruit which are filled with hard kidney-shaped seeds.  These seeds are “nature-designed” to survive harsh conditions and to germinate at exactly the right time so that the young seedling can grow and survive in the wild.  Our job is to crack that code by mimicking the natural conditions that stimulate germination and allow the seedlings to [...] Continue Reading
By Dr Sarah Venter

Let’s save the baobabs

Thanks to donations from Skoon Skincare (South Africa), Dr Jackson Skincare (UK), Lather (USA) and BaoMed (Netherlands) the Baobab Foundation has managed to raise enough funds to protect another fifty baobab trees. In October (2023) Mphadeni Nthangeni (Park Manager), Steven Khosa (SanParks Ecologist), the Honorary Rangers (Mapungubwe Cluster) and Sarah Venter (Baobab Foundation) will be starting this daunting task. There [...] Continue Reading
By Dr Sarah Venter

Green Defenders

The Green Defenders are local community action group headed by Thuso Mukoma of Mukomawabane Village in northern Limpopo. The group solves environmental problems such as erosion and pollution around their village and then get together to take action.  Their activities include tree planting, monitoring illegal harvesting of fuel wood and building gabions.  Their efforts are important to the environment in [...] Continue Reading
By Dr Sarah Venter

Big Bite Tree Collapses (Video 4)

Big Bite Tree Collapses (Video 4) I visited this tree in November 2022 (Video 1 in this series), less than seven months later this tree collapsed and died.  It was a tragic sight and has emphasised the urgent need for the protection of baobabs from elephant damage in this forgotten park.
By Dr Sarah Venter

Livhuwani’s baobab tree

Livhuwani tells us about her tree (Video) Livhuwani Nelitshindwi planted her tree 6 years ago as part of the Baobab Guardians project.  The project started in 2014 encouraged people in rural villages to plant and protect baobab seedlings from being browsed by domestic animals.  When trees reach 3 meters high they are then safe from browsers and can continue to […] Continue Reading