HOW ANCIENT ARE BAOBAB TREES REALLY?

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 over Africa and publishing his results in Scientific Journals. So far the oldest tree dated was the multi-stemmed Glencoe Tree near Hoedspruit that was dated to 1800 years old.(see pic).  In Venda people often say that they live forever. I like to believe they do.

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budding baobabs

budding baobabs

Spring has arrived in the Limpopo with budding baobabs!  The baobab trees which have been bare for most of the year are bursting into bud and leaf.  The round buds which look like fruit are actually flower buds.  They will still grow to three times that size over the next month before they are ready […]

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Miracle Tree!

Miracle Tree!

A few years ago I was called by a local farmer to see some baobabs that were very ill and dying.  There was a group of four baobabs, some of them were still standing and others had already collapsed in to a heap of fibre.  This tree was still standing, but was hot and ‘sweaty’ with […]

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2013 Jun: Tiny seedlings, big ideas

2013 Jun: Tiny seedlings, big ideas

I thought you might like to see this video interview I did with Johrne van Huyssteen.  This video was made for De Kat TV. Have a look at it here. http://buff.ly/1b3mrqS

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