Marula and Baobab trees

There are many different trees on the site in Zambia. The radio station is build in a mango orchard and there are papaya, avocado and citrus trees growing around the bungalows.

This is one of three marula trees growing beside the road. The marula fruit has just ripened and fallen from the trees.

It is yellow when ripe, about the size of a small plum, but the flesh remains firm with a large stone in the centre. Elephants love marula fruit. When they find a marula tree with fruit, they gorge themselves on the fruit, even destroying the tree to get to the fruit on the highest branches. The story goes that the marula fruit ferments in the elephant's stomach causing it to become drunk, sway and stagger around. The fruit is also harvested for use in a liqueur called Amarula, the makers capitalize on this bit of folk lore.

There are no elephants on the farm, but the fruit does not go to waste; locals collect and eat it. Betty, John's wife, has been busy making marula jam. She gave me a small pot before she left on Friday. It has a high pectin content, as it has set really well and is delicious on toast.

This is the baobab tree, more commonly known as the upside down tree, which I talked about in an earlier post, when visiting Cape Town's Kirstenbosch Botanical gardens.

I noticed it a short distance off the approach road to the residential area, so I took a photo when I was out walking at the weekend. As it doesn't have any leaves at present, it was easy to identify and it looks more like it's name than the example at Kirstenbosch. The trunk is large and stumpy; this one is about 6-7 metres in circumference, but I couldn't estimate it very well due to the dense undergrowth.