By Sarah Venter

Next batch of baobabs growing well for rewilding

This year our April 2026 baobab growth measurements of trees in Mabvete village showed promising results.  Many trees have passed the 2.5 meter mark and may be ready for rewilding in November 2026. Many of the number tags on the trees had faded or broken off, so we replaced all of them. Rainfall since October 2025 has been exceptionally high [...] Continue Reading
By Sarah Venter

Rewilding baobabs and learning as we go…

In 2024 we planted 50 baobab trees into the wild at Nthakeni Camp.  We chose this place as it has very few antelope and no domestic animals, such as goats and donkeys, that like to eat baobab seedlings. The trees were planted in a variety of habitats such as closed forests, open woodlands and grasslands.  We do not interfere with [...] Continue Reading
By Dr Sarah Venter

Baobab Wilding at Mabvete Village

After 2 years of growing baobabs for transplanting into the wild we planted out 30 young trees.  In January 2023 baobab growers in Mabvete village received baobab seedlings to grow. They were to plant the trees in the ground in their homesteads, water them, look after them and protect them from goats until they reached a hight of at least [...] Continue Reading
By Dr Sarah Venter

After good rain wild Planted baobabs need to survive overgrowth

Wild planted baobab trees at Nthakeni were assessed with the help of Nathan Clemes and Amber Numamoto from Unrooted in the UK.  We found that the high rainfall had caused a lot of vegetation growth around the seedlings which were suffocating the plants.  The plants were left as they were so that we can learn how young seedlings grow and [...] Continue Reading
By Dr Sarah Venter

1-Year assessment of wild planted baobabs at Nthakeni

The 51 baobab trees were planted one year ago along the Drongo and Baobab Trails at Nthakeni Camp. These trees were assessed this February by Fumihiko Ayoagi and Hiroyuki Ogata from Tokyo, Japan. We found that all the trees had established well and had put on some growth. A few of the trees had been eaten by baboons and one [...] Continue Reading
By Dr Sarah Venter

Be patient, baobabs take their time

The “plantation-style” baobab trees planted into the ground in Mabvete village were measured in November 2024.  The late rains meant that they have only just started to flush their new leaves.  We were hoping that they would have grown tall enough to plant out into the wild this year, but they are not quite there yet.  We will have to [...] Continue Reading
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