Beleaguered Baobab
Plants & PlanetImage details - Beleaguered Baobab
Description
The Madagascan baobab tree with its distinctive tapering branches, is also known as 'the upside-down' tree. Several species of baobab grow there, but the land they once occupied has been under threat for years. Baobabs have historically been cut down to make way for farming, and even for export. Huge swathes of land are now occupied by monoculture, reducing the habitat for Madagascar's unique flora and fauna.
I was struck by how vicious the imported sisal plants look in the foreground, as if they have imprisoned this single native baobab tree, from which there is no escape.