This week we had our first collection workshop for the year. It was a beautiful crisp winter morning. When we headed out it was very early and the dew still hung on the baobab leaves. Everybody was in high spirits for the start of the collection season. Baobab fruit have started to ripen and drop off the trees and the women […] Continue Reading
The Baobab tree inspires so much in the world! So why would you be surprised that there's a legendary Senegalese band out there called Orchestra Baobab? Orchestra Baobab was formed in Dakar in 1970 when a group of Senegalese decided to create an intimate club where they could meet with their friends. They fashioned its walls and ceilings to resemble […] Continue Reading
How old were your parents when you were born? Not as old as the Baobab tree has to be before it's capable of bearing fruit. It can take a Baobab tree up to 200 years before it produces its first green-brown velvety pod-shaped fruit. January is when Baobabs start to fruit and fruit production is highly variable between trees. Some trees never produce […] Continue Reading
Photographic artist Elaine Ling http://buff.ly/14RLYG2 says of her pictures of Baobab trees in Africa: "These miraculous giants are one of the largest living things on the planet and have a potential lifespan of more than a thousand years. They are great friends to their human neighbours—providing an ever-renewing source of textiles, netting, baskets and roofing. Their nutritious fruit has many medicinal properties. […] Continue Reading
Flower and fruit production usually only takes place once a tree is a certain size. Baobab tree growth is dependent on access to water. Where trees grow in high rainfall areas (+1000mls …per year) baobabs can reach maturity much more quickly than in arid areas. We have worked out that in Venda where rainfall is 350ml per year it can […] Continue Reading
Don't you love these funkadelic fabric baobab decor trees! A bit of fun to brighten up your day! http://buff.ly/11k2gBi
I often get asked how old baobabs become. There is a lot of myth with most people believing that they live for up to 5000 years. I have been working with Dr Adrian Patrut, who has made it his mission to find the oldest baobab in the world. He has been at this for about 10 years, sampling trees all […] Continue Reading
A new species of baobab, Adansonia kilima, has recently been described for Africa by Prof. Jack Pettigrew. This is significant because worldwide there are only eight species of baobab, six of them are in Madagascar, one is in Australia and one in Africa (Adansonia digitata). But what has always intrigued taxonomists is that the species that occur in Madagascar and […] Continue Reading
On my field trip a few weeks back we went into northern Venda which was very badly struck by the recent floods. Many roads were washed away and people's houses damaged. I came across this uprooted baobab. It was in a sandy area so when the floods washed around its roots it just toppled over! Notice the masses of adventitious […] Continue Reading
ISN'T IT AMAZING HOW THE BAOBAB BRINGS TOGETHER COMMUNITY – EVEN IN LONDON! The bright and bold London baobab tree rises almost 46 feet high on Southbank’s waterfront. Designed by the group of artists, engineers and designers in Pirate Technics, the tree was created to represent the nations of the world that took part in this summer’s London Olympics. Rows and […] Continue Reading