Phat Baobab

[Leon]

I got to climb this awesome baobab tree today. It was a ton of fun.

 

[Leon]

That's Jon (treesandsurf) at the bottom of the tree for scale.

 

[Leon]

The tree is so fat that even 40 feet up when Jon would go around the other side of the trunk it was like he completely disappeared, no sight or sound!

 

[Colin]

Thanks Leon, that's an awesome looking tree, wasn't till you put a bloke next to it that you actually appreciated how big the bugger is.

 

[Colin]

That's about uber-cool, Leon!

 

[SirTreeRat]

Wow, very cool.

 

[RogerM]

DO they call that a "hawaiian" shirt there?
Do they call it "Dusseldorf" mustard in Dusseldorf Germany?
Or do they just call it mustard?

Forgive me, simple minds are easily amused. That trunk is awesome!

 

[Leon]

Actually, they call them aloha shirts here.

 

[treesandsurf]

here's two more pics from that climb

 

[treesandsurf]

another...

 

[treesandsurf]

looking down about half way up...

 

[BostonBull]

What are the approxiamate dimensions of that tree? heigh DBH?

 

[Leon]

Who's that weirdo in your pictures Jon? They'll let just about anyone up a tree these days.

BostonBull, the tree is approximately 70 ft tall. I'd estimate the DBH to be around 15 ft, but I'm not used to trees that fat so I could be way off.

 

[Mike_Dirksen]

Hey Leon,

Is this one of the competition trees?

 

[Leon]

My lips are sealed.

 

[NickfromWI]

LUCKY!!! Ever since I read "The Little Prince" I've wanted to climb a Baobob. I might have to come over to join you!

What is the wood like? When I look at pictures of the, they just look like GIANT jade trees, so I imagine it being super soft.

I have some baobob seeds. If I plant them, maybe one day I can climb one of them!!

love
nick

 

[Leon]

Nick, you are right that it is a fairly soft wooded tree. This is the same family that includes balsa wood (Ochroma pyramidale), and most of the trees in the family have fairly soft wood.

I've got a couple of baby baobabs that I grew from seed. They are are about 4 feet tall now, and should be ready to plant out fairly soon. Planting trees is awesome, especially special ones like these!

If you ever come out here Nick, it would be my pleasure to make sure that you get a chance to climb that tree.