Baobabs reach extraordinarily old ages. Some have been found to be thousands of years old. During these life spans, elder baobabs have survived erratic climate conditions.
As an ecologist who has spent the last 17 years studying baobab, I decided to look specifically at the health of adult baobabs in Southern Africa and then in Africa as a whole, to establish if more recent human-induced climate change has started having an effect on these magnificent trees.
Over the course of 2023 I travelled across Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe visiting baobabs located in the area as well as 13 other particularly old and large specimens, including Sagole (named after a local hot spring), the largest baobab in the world.
