The hollowed trunk of the mighty baobab tree is used to store life-giving water in the extreme drought of southern Madagascar

“I pointed out to the little prince that baobabs were not little bushes but, on the contrary, trees as big as castles; and that even if he took a whole herd of elephants away with him, the herd would not eat up one single baobab.” 
Antoine de Saint-Exupery, 1943 The Little Prince

The baobab (from Arabic for “father of many seeds”) is a tree of rare beauty, extraordinary lifespan and endless utility. In Madagascar, where it originates, its leaves and fruit serve as a popular food. Its seed and pulp are used to press vegetable oil and brew beer respectively. The fibrous bark is used to make shoes, nets, ropes and baskets and the pollen is reduced down to make a type of glue. Some trees are hollowed out and used as living quarters for both humans and livestock. Most important, though, is the baobab’s ability to retain and store water during the dry season.

A large baobab can accumulate and store up to 120,000 litres of water during the short Madagascan rainy season. This gets filtered through the bark and serves as a living well for communities that have come to depend on it because of climate change.

The baobab has spread as far as Australia and thrives on adversity: its tough seeds that can travel thousands of miles on ocean currents and in the stomachs of birds that pick at its fruit. The world’s largest example of the species, the Sunland Baobab in South Africa, measures 47 metres in circumference and is thought to be around 6,000 years old.

In Madagascar, people think of the baobab’s odd-looking branches as its roots, reaching out toward the heavens and making contact with their ancestors. Yet their earthly lives are threatened.[…]

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