Saturday, June 19, 2010

Baobabs

Driving through rice fields with clusters of palm trees and scattered baobabs it seems like nature made a mistake.  It is such a strange beauty.  Baobabs are giant bizarrely shaped trees with a swollen base,  sometimes narrowing at the top, and a flat, sparse, spread of branches that look like exposed roots at the top.  Nicknamed "the upside down tree," these freakish giants are the archetypal Malagasy tree.  They are awe-inspiring and  otherworldly.  Six or seven of the species are native to Madagascar.  

We went to see the les baobabs amoureux, which appears as 2 baobabs intertwined. (We were told it was one tree but that is not quite as romantic).  Then we drove through the famous avenue of baobabs and stopped to watch the sunset. Incidentally we watched the sunset with a Japanese tour group which oddly made the whole experience more familiar.

Today we are leaving for Tana by taxi-brousse making our way to the east coast.

2 comments:

  1. Taxi-brousse sounded rather luxurious until I searched images. Français adds a certain je ne sais quoi but ...a kumbi by any other name would smell... the same I imagine. Love your awesome descriptions of the baobabs. Again ... 2-D pictures inform me but to walk among them must be like being on the moon!!

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  2. yay its like the little prince!! i love baobabs! ps hiiiii siteki misses you guys someone called me sibahle today!

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