2013 Dec: 50 new baobab babies!

Last month,  50 rural women harvesters attended a  baobab growing and sustainable harvesting course.  I had such fun with this, taking 50 rural women baobab fruit harvesters on a field trip from Zigodini village to Pafuri River Camp Nursery, on the banks of the Mutale River. The course was done with a mixture of practical parts and discussions. The discussions focused on a number of questions related to baobab biology, climate change, sustainable harvesting and nursery practice. The women were encouraged to participate in discussions and debate each question. The practical part was in the nursery where they learned about baobab germination, growth, soil requirements, watering, and so much more. Each woman was given a planting bag and seeds to take home so that she can grow her first baobab and plant it out into the village where she lives. Here's to 50 more baobab trees growing in the Limpopo!

Continue reading....

Find more interesting articles below

Truckloads of Baobab leaves for West Africans

Truckloads of Baobab leaves for West Africans

“I always wondered what the fuss was about dried baobab leaves in West Africa,” says Dr Sarah Venter. “In Southern and East Africa baobab leaves are known to be eaten but it is not very common. In West Africa however, stories abound of smuggling and theft of truckloads of baobab leaves from one country to […]

Read more
Baobab Flowers Fine Art: Gill Condy

Baobab Flowers Fine Art: Gill Condy

What an honor and a delight spending time with Gillian Condy sketching baobab flowers under the boughs of the baobab trees in Limpopo.  Gill is South Africa’s foremost botanical artist and works for the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) as a resident botanical artist.  Her award-winning works are world famous and include a plate in Highgrove Florilegium, […]

Read more
Training to assess Baobab resources in Zimbabwe

Training to assess Baobab resources in Zimbabwe

Dr Sarah Venter recently trained a group of ecologists on doing tree-health assessments in Zimbabwe. “We were looking at various aspects of baobab health that include the impact of elephants on baobab trees, bark harvesting and diseases.  This work took us all around Zimbabwe including the Hwange National Park, where the assessment team measured over 900 […]

Read more