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Know your nation: How the Baobab tree got its unusual nickname

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Famous Scottish missionary and explorer David Livingstone described the baobab tree as a “carrot planted upside down”.

He was not alone in thinking the tree looked slightly odd. Its nickname, after all, is the upside-down tree.

It got this nickname because its spreading branches look like roots that stick up into the air. But this is not the only strange aspect of the baobab tree.

They can grow up to 20m high and live for thousands of years. In fact, one of the oldest living trees in the world is called the Big Baobab and is situated in Limpopo. Scientists have dated it and believe it is 6 000 years old.

Another unique aspect of the baobab is that, when they reach 1 000 years old, the trunk begins to hollow itself out. These hollowed-out spaces have been transformed into shops, bars and even prisons.

Up to 40 people can fit inside a single baobab tree in Zimbabwe.

The legend of how the tree came by its curious look is still told by tribes along the Zambezi River.

They say the mighty baobabs were once proud and arrogant trees, looking down upon all the other vegetation. God uprooted them in anger, then pushed them back into the ground upside down as punishment. It is said that evil spirits now haunt the tree’s white flowers, and that, if anyone is foolish enough to pick one, they will be eaten by a lion.

The baobab tree is also responsible for saving lives. One baobab tree can hold almost 5 000 liters of water.

A row of baobabs grows across the Kalahari Desert and many a traveller would have died if it wasn’t for these natural reservoirs.

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