Baobab Tree

We just returned from safari and are slowly adjusting to life back home. Whereas last year we visited South Africa and Botswana, this time we visited Tanzania, specifically Tarangire National Park, Lake Maryana, the Ngorongoro Crater, and finally the Serengeti. I’ll be posting pictures from our trip over the next several weeks, after we’ve gotten back into living in the correct timezone. But for now, here’s a picture of a Baobab Tree from Tarangire, and way more information than you wanted to know about it. The Baobab tree is not actually a tree, but a succulent, meaning it has more in common with a cactus than a redwood. They can live over 1000 years, and it’s impossible to date them. There are no rings to count and carbon dating is inexact at best because the ’tree’ is somewhat fibrous and regrows itself over time. Because of the way they grow, they end up hollow, making a nice space for people or critters to live. Elephants will often strip the bark off the tree, either through random damage or for eating, and that appears to have happened with this tree.