What is a baobab anyway? A massive, odd-looking tree that grows across large swaths of sub-Saharan Africa. We grew accustomed to them when we lived in South Africa, and Zambia, and Guinea-Bissau.
Legend has it that the devil yanked a normal looking tree out of the ground entirely out of spite, turned it upside down and stuck it back in upside down, with its branches in the earth and its roots in the air.
Another legend explains that the baobab was one of the first trees to appear in Africa. After it came the palm tree, much taller and more graceful. The baobab got jealous and wanted to be taller than the palm tree. Then the flame tree appeared, covered in red flowers, and the baobab again got jealous and wanted beautiful blossoms. The fig tree was next, and the baobab envied the fig tree's fruit. The tree gods became so annoyed with the constantly whining baobab that they replanted it upside down just to keep it quiet.
According to the Kruger National Park, Bushmen think the baobab "doesn't grow like other trees, but suddenly crashes to the ground with a thump, fully grown, and then one day simply disappears." But no-one has ever seen this happen because baobabs also happen to live for thousands of years.
I chose the baobab here because they are so huge and fat that they inevitably become meeting points for isolated villages out on the velds. They are "community trees." Folks of all ages will gather under them and around them and trade tales and swap stories, long into the starry night. The baobab obliges them all by opening its big white flowers only after the sun has set . . . .
For more on baobabs: http://www.krugerpark.co.za/africa_baobab.html
posted by Anonymous @ 2:10 PM
0 comments
