2,000-Year-Old Baobab Tree in Africa: Fascinating Facts About the “Upside-Down Tree”

Yitzhak Carmeli is a journalist, lecturer, and researcher of Jewish communities around the world. He frequently travels to distant places to trace Jewish roots — and sometimes discovers wonders of nature along the way. In honor of Tu B'Shvat, Carmeli shared a moving photo of himself beside a 2,000-year-old baobab tree he encountered during one of his journeys.

“This is a baobab tree that thrives in the African savannah, located along the banks of the Zambezi River,” Carmeli explains. “It can reach great height and enormous trunk width, and because of the scarcity of rain in the region, it stores water inside its trunk and branches for dry seasons.”

Following are some fascinating facts about this legendary baobab tree:

1. A natural water reservoir
   An average baobab tree can store about 120,000 liters of water inside its trunk. If we were to extract it, we could easily fill entire bathtubs with the water it holds.

2. Giant in size and appearance
   Baobab trees can grow over 30 meters high, and because their roots have an unusual shape, they are sometimes called “upside-down trees.”

3. Large enough to live inside
   The interior of the baobab is so massive that some African tribes have actually built homes inside the tree’s hollow trunk.

4. Beloved by wildlife — “The Monkey Bread Tree”
   Monkeys in the region are especially fond of the baobab’s fruit and flowers and gather around it in groups, which is why it is also nicknamed “Monkey Bread Tree.”

5. Baobab trees in Ein Gedi
   Over the years, attempts were made to grow baobab trees in Ein Gedi, Israel. While the effort was relatively successful, the trees there do not reach the impressive size of those in Africa.

6. Home of the largest baobab in the world
   Africa is home to the world’s largest baobab tree, whose trunk diameter exceeds 36 meters.