SANParks.org Forums

Theres a nice article about the moving of 2 Baobab trees from Letaba camp to the Giriyondo Border Post on the front page of the site. I was at Letaba a couple of weeks ago watching the guys painstakingly digging out the soil around the big baobab with spades - looked like a helluva job!

Wow, Moving trees that big.

It was quite amazing. They estimated that they would have to dig down another 2 metres to get the roots free enough to move the tree but the tap root was ENORMOUS! They told me that the tree was only 18 years old (the article says 30) but had been fed with compost and watered regularly which was why it was so big. In fact it was the leafiest baobab I saw in the park - poor thing was being dug up in its prime....shame The other baobab was much smaller and they didn't think it would take long to dig out. The photo's I took were 24/05/05, so it obviously didn't take long in the grand scheme of things!

Not in his prime Krok. Baobabs can live (I heard) for thousands of years. In fact isn't the southernmost baobab a couple of thousand years old?

I know...just seemed a shame to be moving him in full leaf.

Ah, OK. I misunderstood.

But I think better to do it when it's strong than in the months that it might not be. And I think they at their strongest when they are in full leaf.

What a huge task, now I must visit Giriyondo to see them
A big thankyou to Sasol Nitro and J P Crane Hire for sponsoring this, great to see that big firms are interested in conservation and prepared to give their time and money.

Great pix!! Thanks for posting them!

This is going to take a lot of digging....

Seems the baobab, photographed by Krokodile, is adapting well in his new “home” at Giriyondo.

What neccesitated the moving of this gracious being?????

[img]http://quanjer.nl/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/IMG_1445.jpg[/url]

A more recent photo of one of them. Both seem to be doing extremely well, this one a little better than the other.