'Baobabs are one of Africa's distinctive and iconic trees. Because they are all very old when mature (1000+ years) they symbolize age and history. They have the same gravitas as do ancient ruins in Europe and instinctively we know that they would have many tales to tell if they could talk. They are the silent observers of untold wildlife and human dramas that have played out next to them over the eons. I get quite emotional when I approach a baobab on foot. Here is an living entity that has survived for hundreds if not thousands of years. In the face of human induced climate change how much longer they can survive in the wilderness as they do now in vast numbers all over Africa? This is a valid question because although they are extraordinarily hardy they are also very sensitive to small changes in the environment which we do not understand fully. In Botswana several iconic, historical baobabs that were measured by Livingstone have started to die off together even though they are in very diverse locations. The suspicion is that some environmental blip wrought by climate change is the culprit. They are also not valued as they should be considering their historical significance to the localities they live in. Here I refer to the baobabs near the Likoni ferry in Mombasa, Kenya. A group of baobabs here were destroyed and removed in order to make way for development on the island of Mombasa and in the process it was discovered that they had within them several ancient rusting canon balls fired by Arab traders during some dispute centuries ago. Eliminating baobabs such as these (as is happening all over Africa) is as much a crime as would be the destruction of the Parthenon. This painting is of of a group of baobabs near the Tarangire River (where it exits the national Park) which display signs of permanent elephant damage. This is an area in Tanzania where baobabs are coming under extreme pressure from too many elephants. Most of these baobabs will be gone in a decade or two.'

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