Eto Baobab

Madagascar is a big island, a really big island. There is a reason why it is sometimes called the “Eighth Continent”. That is because there is a wild diversity of biomes and climates. Here in the center of the island in the capital of Antananarivo, we live in high mountains where the temperature rarely reaches 90 and often rests between the mid-70s and mid-80s depending on the time of year. The landscape around the capital is dotted in green hills and mountain tops. Ranomafana is a valley of dense, deep green jungle. And in the west of Madagascar, there are hundreds of miles of savanna plains and hills.

It is said that this was once a lush forest, but that generations of Malagasy cutting and burning the forest has turned it into a dry, hot savanna. I’m not sure how much I believe it. If it’s true, then those Malagasy were burning hundreds of acres every day for several hundred years.

There are some major dry forest areas left. We went into one of the parks where we got to see some safako (the two-leg jumping kind of lemur) which are the Zoboomafoo looking dudes. We saw some birds, too, and even a spiky-tailed lizard dude who let us get way too close while he was munching on some ants. We were hoping to find a fossa, a cat-like predator (the same from the movie). But no luck. They are extremely rare in the first place, but ever since the pandemic, they have been seen less and less.

These dry forests are under threat from the local population who do slash and burn farming (called tavy in Malagasy). Here it is more of a problem than in the rest of the country because there are dahalo (cattle bandits) and little fertile land. The government has regular army patrols around the park.

Anyways, the west of Madagascar is the closest thing to looking like the rest of Africa. Unlike mainland Africa, there are no large mammals roaming around the tall, dry grass. There are no zebra, no elephants, no gazelle, no buffalo, no lions, none of it. There are, however, plenty of baobabs.

There are baobabs on mainland Africa, as well. But there are only a few species in Africa. There are more than 30 species of baobab trees in Madagascar. Baobabs are tall. They aren’t as tall as pine trees, but they are certainly thicker, several yards thick actually. Their branches are only on the top of the tree. And they have a coconut-like fruit that tastes awful as a juice (in my opinion) and even worse in a fruit salad. These trees are all the more impressive when you consider that they typically only grow 12cm (4 inches) each year.

Our little Fulbright vacation crew visited the alley of baobabs where we were able to see a whole bunch of them in one place. We even got to see the sacred baobab, a wicked big baobab tree far away from any major town. We even got to see the sun set behind a long line of beautiful baobabs. The sunset cast a strange orange glow across the whole. Then it disappeared and left a purple haze in the sky until the real darkness consumed the rest of night.

There’s not much else to say about these amazing trees. We do have an inside joke where we would point to any old plant and say “eto baobab” which translates as “here (as in, in this general area but not really specific) is baobab”. I picked up a stick “eto baobab”. I pointed to a goat, “eto baobab”. I slapped the roof of our Toyota Land Rover, “eto baobab”. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Not really an interesting or funny one today, sorry. But please enjoy our photos and know that the savanna is pretty cool, even if there aren’t any big animals out there.

As always, know that you are in my prayers each morning. All I ask is that you do the same for me.

May God be praised.