Alley of baobabs trees, Morondava, Madagascar

Morondava is extremely well known for the Alley of the Baobab trees (Adansonia grandidieri). All the travellers pass by here and the Japanese having also read " the Little Prince " of Mr Antoine of Saint Exupéry, make displacement only for them. They admire them at the sunset and the sunrise.

Usually, the Baobab trees like the dry or rocky biotopes, but here, they are surrounded by rice plantations and marshes, without forgetting the mosquitos, especially during the sunset and the sunrise. Compared with Adansonia digitata of Africa and Adansonia gregorii of Australia, the Adansonia grandidieri has a very slim port and a quite straight trunk without branches. It has the massive and short branches at its top.

It is very difficult to see young Baobab trees. Indeed, the young growths are very often the meal of the zebus, other local herbivores and people. Without forgetting the bush fires. The landscape of Ménabé has only old specimens of Baobab trees of a minimum of a hundred years to thousands of years. Then which is the future of these mastodons if their baby trees are not preserved? If no project of plantations is undertaken on a large scale, this Malagasy symbol of Ménabé will disappear because nothing is eternal.

The Malagasy symbol is thus in danger!

It even arrives that of large Baobab trees are uprooted to grow the famous mushrooms of Baobab tree. The local people tell that we never see growing the Baobab trees.

In addition a German specialist would come each year at the same date to measure these famous trees. Adansonia grandidieri would grow from one to three millimeters/year. Some of these gigantic trees whose legend tells that they would have been planted upside down by the Hyena or the devil in anger, but in all the cases that do not prevent them from deploying a formidable aura.

They are the pillars of Ménabé, of Madagascar. They should be saved.