Tuesday's Trees #15 - Baobabs

Baobabs remain one of my favourites trees, with their almost prehistoric look and shear size. These photographs are scans from our collection. They were taken about ten years ago at Mana Pools in the Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe.

We were told by a conservationist that these trees were gouged out like this by elephants looking for food during one of the severe droughts that hit the area from time to time.

In the old days the elephants would leave the Valley for the highlands in search of food, and returrn during the rainy season, but the traditional migration routes have now been blocked off by game fences and farms. They are now confined to the game parks and have to take what they can get.

The Zambezi Valley is one of my favourite places on the planet. I don't know what it is about the place, but everytime I go there it has an almost physical effect on me. I can't explain it but I just love the harshness of this vast, flat wilderness area.