Measuring Baobab girth

It feels a bit like when you mark off the height of your children on the doorpost, but every year in May Diana Mayne, a baobab colleague, and I visit Skelmwater Baobab research plot to do annual growth measurements. This research plot was started in 1931 to measure the annual diameter growth of baobabs. This year was the 83rd measurement and most of the trees got a bit wider due to the good rains, but some years if its very dry, the trees shrink. This little tree is the smallest tree on the plot.

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It’s been a good year – baobab harvesters

It’s been a good year – baobab harvesters

The area where baobabs are found is usually very arid and the climate not easy to grow crops in.  Many of the harvesters with whom I work have fields around their villages where they do dry-land cropping for food and to supplement income.  Dry-land cropping means that there is no irrigated water to the fields […]

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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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Baobab in Healthbox SA

Baobab in Healthbox SA

We think this is such a cool concept! Each month, subscribers to Health Box SA are sent a luxurious combination of health, fitness and wellness products. Each item has been tried, tested and tasted by a panel of experts to ensure that what lands up on subscribers’ doorsteps are the latest, trusted and best-for-you products […]

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