As always in West Africa, people usually dress in vibrant colors, especially the women. It’s a beautiful sight to see. Around Boukombé, the markets are the most animated during the dry season. People are not otherwise occupied with agricultural labor, and harvests are in, so there is plenty to buy. The temperature that time of the year can be HOT…read […] Continue Reading
In the 16 000 sq km of Makgadikgadi Pan (Botswana) lies an isolated dry granite rock island 10 metres high, forming a roughly 1km long crescent shape called Kubu Island. The entire island is a national monument, and is considered a sacred site by the indigenous people of the area. The almost white rocks (covered in fossilised guano) share space with gigantic fantastically shaped baobabs […] Continue Reading
it's on the New York Best Seller List and has been described as a "Beautiful and powerful work at the intersection of fine art, science, and philosophy, spanning seven continents and exploring issues of deep time, permanence and impermanence, and the interconnectedness of life, Rachel Sussman has written a wonderful book "The Oldest Living Things in The World" And of course […] Continue Reading
The area has had lovely late rains, but this has affected our normal fruit harvesting time. Normally all the fruit would have fallen to the ground by now and been picked up by our harvesters, but this year more than half of them are still on the trees. So we are waiting for the fruit to drop off the trees… […] Continue Reading
A few years ago I was called by a local farmer to see some baobabs that were very ill and dying. There was a group of four baobabs, some of them were still standing and others had already collapsed in to a heap of fibre. This tree was still standing, but was hot and ‘sweaty’ with droplets on its bark, almost as […] Continue Reading
Recently, friend and baobab fan Shona sent through this delightful photo taken near Xigera Reserve, Okavango Delta in April this year. It shows their guide pointing out elephant damage to a baobab tree. It’s old elephant damage and you can see in the picture how the wound has healed over with new bark. It’s quite wonderful how baobabs manage to heal themselves in an almost […] Continue Reading
An exquisite image of Baines baobabs in Botswana. From our collection of beautiful baobabs.
The Venda believe that if you wash a baby in water infused with baobab bark, the child will become fat and healthy
This well-known tree has many documented references to it in the journals of early travellers and foreign explorers to the region, many of whom left inscriptions on its massive trunk which can still be seen today. The tree even served as an unofficial post office for these 19th-century explorers.
Baobab seeds are relatively large,but it’s not an impossibility that that germinating Baobab seedlings could use the manure buried by dung beetles to boost the growth of its first few shoots!