Baobab: The Great Grandmother of All Trees
In Senegal, from Blaise Diagne International Airport to the capital city, Dakar, baobab trees are both lined and scattered as the main landscape attraction on the roadside. At first glance, the trees look upside down, the branches resemble roots, as if someone uprooted all the trees and planted them the other way. I am in awe of the baobab tree, season after season, for hundreds of years; baobab continues to feed all living things with its fresh leaves and fruit. This ancient tree has mastered the art of sustaining its ecosystem
There are nine species of the baobab tree, two of the species are native to the mainland of the African continent, which are the Adansonia digitata popular in West Africa and Adansonia kilima popular in Southern and Eastern Africa. There is only one species in Australia, the Adansonia gregorii.
Moreover, there are six species indigenous to the island of Madagascar, which are the Adansonia grandidier, Adansonia perrireri, Adansonia za, Adansonia madagascariensis, Adansonia rubrostipa, and Adansonia suarezensis. The famous picture of the baobab isle in Madagascar with the cylinder looking baobab trees is the Adansonia grandidier. And the day I see this mighty species for myself, I might just have to camp at the feet of this baobab tree.
In the Upper East region of Ghana, in the Guruni language, the baobab tree is called Tua, and the fruit is called Toro. In the Wolof language, among the Senegalese people, the baobab tree is called gouye gui, and the fruit is called bouye.
Although all nine species are similar in many ways, there are varying differences between their flowerings, their leaves shedding, water storage in the trunk, the thickness of the trunk, the length of the roots, and etc. Amidst these slight differences between the species, the baobab tree feeds and shelters humans, insects, animals, birds, and many other living things. The trunk is home for some reptiles, bats, and insects. The branches make a nice home for birds to build their nest, and during the raining season, when the tree flowers, the bats can facilitate the pollination process.
On the way to my mother’s village in Navrongo, I only know how to find my grandfather’s house with the two large baobab trees by the side of the road in Vunania. These trees have been there since my maternal grandfather was a child, and once I make my way past the trees, there’s a community borehole where the pigs cool off at the side where the water drains, and in the short distance, I see the small family house.
The baobab fruit is a dry soluble fruit that contains protein, carbohydrates, energy, fiber, provitamin A, vitamin C, several B vitamins, calcium, phosphorus, and iron. The fresh baobab leaves are used in soups and stews, and contains high iron content. The medicinal uses of baobab extend to treating insect bites, asthma, bladder, kidney disease and other ailments. The bark of the tree can be pounded and used to make cloth, rope, baskets, hats, and etc. The tree is regenerative, when a branch breaks, new ones grow in the raining season, and once a bark is ripped off, it repairs itself, and grows new barks.
Some ethnic groups have their own spiritual beliefs about the baobab tree, my friend Malik tells me that, in Senegal, some people in the past believed that spiritual beings inhabited baobab trees. He said, when people had challenges, they will go and tell a shaman their problems, who will give them traditional medicine in return and tell them to throw the traditional medicine at the feet of the baobab tree. And once they did this, their problems would minimize or disappear.
In Ghana too, I noticed that some people among the Frafra, or Talensi, or Kassena people will tie a white rope around the baobab tree, indicating that this particular baobab tree was a god. When you visit the Tengzug Shrine in Tongo Hills in the Upper East region, there is a baobab tree that is also a god, and at my last visit, I was told that the chief palace was built around the tree. Across many African ethnic groups, the baobab is spiritual, and medicinal.
Edible trees are imperative to establishing environmental sustainability, in the face of climate change, they are an important ingredient to sustainable agriculture. On the drive from St. Louis, to Darkar through Kebemer, and all the way down to the border of Senegal and Gambia, during the raining season, you will notice how farmers have plowed, and planted around the baobab trees. Trees are important for lessening soil erosion, the roots of the trees help reduce the loss of topsoil and thereby maintain soil fertility. Once the rainy season ends, baobab begins to shed its leaves, which increases organic matter in the soil.
In Senegal, the baobab represents something very strong, there is even a well known wrestler called Gouye-Gui, relating his physical abilities to the baobab tree. In the rural areas in the northern regions of Ghana, I noticed that most homes were built close to baobab trees, the tree is used as shelter, to host community meetings; and in the raining season used as a windbreaker from the heavy thunder and lightning.
In Dakar, I loved going to markets, and at many food stalls or even in convenience stores where I needed to buy water, dry baobab pulps wrapped in plastic were sold as snacks. At almost every restaurant, baobab drinks were sure to be offered on the menu. No matter how many times I have seen a baobab tree, if you are with me, I will always act like it is my first time. When I look at a baobab seed, and I think of the genetic information living in the seed, and how one seed holds the information of past of all baobabs, the environment, it’s survival, it’s geography, it’s nutrition, it’s age, and the possibility of this future, I can not help but believe that baobab is the great grandmother of all trees.
