Baobab - Extraordinary tree of Africa

Native to Africa, it is one of the largest and strangest trees on the planet: the baobab tree. It looks like a giant carrot planted upside down.

Its trunk can reach 15 meters or more in diameter. For this reason, African families sometimes settle in large hollow logs or dig huts in the living tree. Despite its human occupants, the baobab remains alive, being almost indestructible.

The baobab fruit, which hangs from the tree like a lantern at the end of a threadlike stem, is called "monkey bread."

Baboons delight in these tasty fruits. The pulp has a pleasant taste and many people use it for food or to flavor cold drinks. The seeds are tough and do not germinate easily, but after passing through a baboon's digestive tract, where they are softened by gastric juice, the seeds easily grow on most of these remarkable trees.