These trees grow in dry areas of Africa, Madagascar and Australia. Their branches are skinny and few, and their trunks are disproportionately wide for their height. The record circumference of a baobab is 150 feet — the length of half a football field!
Although these trees produce only faint growth rings, we know that baobabs live amazingly long lives. Radiocarbon dating has determined that the oldest baobab is more than 2,500-years-old.
Local people call baobabs the “Tree of Life” because they have so many uses for it: eating its iron-rich leaves, drinking a coffee substitute from its seeds, and making beer and juice from the pulp from its large fruits, which have six times more vitamin C than oranges! And the ideal spot for markets in many rural villages? The shade of the baobab’s crown.
A single baobab can store over 1,000 gallons of water, which helps keep soil humid and stable. During droughts, elephants consume the juicy wood beneath the bark of the baobab.
I first read about baobabs as a child, in Saint-Exupery’s classic book, "The Little Prince.” The young prince roots out baobabs as seedlings to prevent them from taking over his tiny planet, a metaphor that instructs us to take actions against destructive forces as early as possible to avoid terrible consequences.
It’s appropriate advice for us today, considering that we’ve lost nine of Africa’s 13 oldest baobab trees to increasing drought brought on by climate change.
The baobab tree has earned each of its nicknames, but the one I love the most is the Tree of Life. My hope is that we heed “The Little Prince’s” advice and act now to allow the skinny limbs of the amazing Tree of Life to continue reaching upward.
