As Tall as the Baobab Tree

I first came across the baobab tree when reading Antoine St Exupery’s The Little Prince as a little girl. Here was a magical, mystical tree, full of allure in the Little Prince’s description, with a strange sense of power and beauty within the book. Being enthralled by them since my first literary encounter as a child, I have long wished to spend more time around them, having seen them on and off in my travels here. Therefore I was quick to jump at the chance to spend a day this week in Tarangire National Park; home to some of Africa’s most beautiful natural wildlife and an area that houses some of the greatest numbers of baobabs in northern Tanzania.

Sometimes known as The Upside Down tree (because of the strangeness of their branches, resembling roots dangling in the air) and called Mbuyu in Swahili, they are known by many (plus globally and lyrically identified by Walt Disney, in the infamous film-classic The Lion King) as The Tree of Life. Why? Firstly because of their incredible capacity to store water. These trees store vast amounts of water in their trunks, in order to cope with seasonal droughts: up to 80% of the trunk is water, with a single tree able to hold over 1000 litres of water. This obviously gives them great resonance for many animals and within the lives of nomadic tribes, providing much needed sustenance in dry seasons.

Beyond the water, they also sprout leaves which can, and are, used for medicinal purposes; plus tremendously exciting looking fruit; a sort of velvety gourd, also known as monkey bread.

The fruit is filled with large seeds, surrounded by a slightly powdery cream-coloured pulp. People have been eating the fruit and leaves for thousands of years and feeling their medicinal benefits, but recently Westerners have started to hail the baobab fruit as a new “superfruit”, realising that it holds up to six times more Vitamin C than an orange, large levels of calcium and is packed full of antioxidants and vitamin A. Super indeed.

Most baobab trees live to around six hundred years, with some of the oldest are said to be over three thousand years old. Thus they are a wise old tree. Legend has it that many tribes once buried their elders under the boughs of the baobab, leading to the belief that the tree carries the spirits of the dead. It is a tree held sacred in its power, with many people still offering up deities to the mighty trees in the hope of being blessed by the spirits of their ancestors. It is also a strange tree in many ways: it only flowers at night, and thus the fruits are unusually pollinated by an array of nocturnal creatures, such as bats. For some it is a tree to fear, for others a tree to worship and hold sacred for its beauty and power.  However you choose to see it, it is one of the most majestic, mystical and magical trees I have ever seen.

Tarangire National Park is also known for its vast numbers of elephants; herds of which manage to survive the long dry seasons (when the rivers dry up) by feeding on the baobabs. Here’s a little clip about why elephants like to eat the baobab.

The Elephant and the Baobab

It was beautiful to spend the day surrounded by such an array of natural beauty. Herds upon herds of elephants roam the plains of Tarangire, and I saw so many family groups during the hot afternoon. They rely on the baobab at many times during the year, and there were many trees within the park that showed signs of having had visits from thirsty elephants.

Many of the elephants had lost a tusk; the guide explaining that this was often through them losing a battle with the tree when ripping open the bark. 

Seeing the image of a tusk-less creature brought home the reality of the current plight of these magnificent creatures; with many studies of current poaching levels predicting their inevitable extinction within less than one hundred years. Spending the day surrounded by such wise, majestic, noble creatures, it is painful to imagine that we humans are driving them to their death, yet researchers believe that since 2010, an average of 34,000 elephants have been killed annually across the continent of Africa.

With a kilogram of ivory currently fetching over $1000, and a rapidly growing market for it across Asia, it is hard to see how, without a collective response from the masses, the devastating cull of elephants will stop before it is too late. Research now shows that poaching is taking 7% of the population of African elephants each year, whilst birth only supplements 5%, thus we have reached a tipping point as more are dying each year than are being born. How we have got to this point is hard enough to understand, but how we are not doing anything significant to stop it is even harder to swallow.

The decline of the elephant

Beyond baobab and elephant, Tarangire houses a wonderful collection of some of Africa’s most exquisite wildlife. Here are just a few of the shots I took during the day (with a bit of a Swahili lesson to accompany them!)

Wildebeast (Nyumba in Swahili) at the watering hole

The graceful Impala (Swala)

Snoozing lions (Simba) in the mid-day sun

The bearded crane (sorry, don't know the swahili for this one)

A cheetah (Duma) and her cubs under a tree

Some zebra (Pundamilia) feeling friendly! (Actually, this is how they stand when on alert, keeping watch for predators, whilst supporting their necks on each other’s shoulders).

A cheeky warthog (Ngiri) looking for its buddies

The name of the National Park, Tarangire, is said to have derived from “mto wa ngir”, which means the river of wild pigs (or warthogs as they’re known in English). The river meandered through much of the park, providing a little water in the current dry season for thirsty creatures.

As mentioned, there were hundreds of elephants (Tembo) roaming the plains

and many giraffe (Twiga) munching on the trees.

However, for me, the king of the day was the baobab.

I recently watched an interesting film called ‘Tall as The Baobab Tree’, telling the story of a young girl who is sent away from her Senegalese village to school, whilst her younger sister is sold into marriage, and the ripple effects of both of these upon their own family and community.  

Tall as the Baobab Tree

The film uses the symbol of a fallen baobab tree as a metaphor for some of the effects of a modern world encroaching upon years of history and tradition: the broken ancient, spiritual tree serving as a symbol for the broken traditions of the village.  Spending a day this week surrounded by the immense natural beauty of the baobab and the awe-inspiring wisdom of the elephant, I spent much time thinking about the negative ripple effects of the modern world of poaching encroaching on years of history and tradition of the lives and habitats of these creatures. Global warming is having an immediate effect on natural environment in these parts, and human greed is moving us towards a world where these sorts of wonders will soon be extinct. I feel we have a lot to learn, and just hope we have the knowledge, wisdom and ability to keep the baobabs and all they symbolise standing tall for the future. 

I'll leave this post with a few final wise little words from The Little Prince and his mighty Baobab trees.