The BIG tree
Posted by: 
Mafushwa
S 17° 54.740 E 025° 50.470
35K E 377255 N 8019132
Adansonia digitata is the scientific name for the baobab tree.
This baobab tree is nicknamed 'The Big Tree'
Waymark Code: WMN71A
Location: Zimbabwe
Date Posted: 01/08/2015
Views: 8
The Big Tree is a large baobab tree that stands just off Zambezi Drive.
The tree is about 18m in diameter.
There are suggestions based on data collected from growing baobabs that the tree could be between 1,500 - 2000 years old.
However this tree is no longer growing and has been in stasis for a long period so getting an actual age will likely never happen.
The Big Tree is by no means the largest baobab in Zimbabwe but has seen centuries of human change.
The tree was a favorite camping spot for early European travelers, hunters and traders. Notably hunter James Chapman, artist Thomas Baines, trader George Westbeach and Czech traveller and collector Emil Holub.
David Livingstone, who was the first European to see the falls did not however stop here.
Sadly the tree was scarred by many of its early visitors and some of it's more recent.
The tree is also under constant threat from the local elephant herds which have mostly destroyed the local forest area already.
A fence has been erected to protect it but it has only slowed them down, the damage to it is very evident.
The Baobab is also called the upside-down tree because when bare of leaves, the spreading branches of the Baobab look like roots sticking up into the air, as if it had been planted upside-down.
There is parking available on the opposite side of the road to the tree.
Genus/Species: Adansonia digitata (Baobab tree)
Height: 65
Girth: 52
Method of obtaining height: Reliable source
Method of obtaining girth: Reliable source
Location type: Park
Age: 1500
Historical significance:
The tree was a favorite camping spot for early European travelers, hunters and traders. Notably hunter James Chapman, artist Thomas Baines, trader George Westbeach and Czech traveller and collector Emil Holub.
David Livingstone, who was the first European to see the falls did not however stop here.
Website reference: [Web Link]
Parking coordinates: N 17° 54.740 W 025° 50.470
Walk time: 1
Photograpy coordinates: N 17° 54.742 W 025° 50.473
Planter: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
A closeup picture of your GPS receiver in your hand, with the tree in the background, is required. If the tree is on private property, this closeup photograph with the tree in the background may be taken from the nearest public vantage point without actually going to the tree.
The required photograph does not need to show the entire tree, but the individual tree must be recognizable.