Photographs of trees, their flowers and
fruits
in Africa by Yvonne van der Mey
South Africa is home to more than 1700 indigenous species of trees and
shrubs, and some of them are threatened because of their rarity as because
of the pressure from commercial and subsistence use. Just 1% of South
Africa is considered to be forest, but in a lot of areas you will find
breathtaking, huge old trees. There are 336 species of trees identified
in the Kruger National Park.
The tree that captures our imagination the most, is the Baobab, which
isn't really a tree, but a succulent. An African proverb says, "Knowledge
is like a Baobab tree, one person's arms cannot encompass it." It
has the longest lifespan of the trees in Africa, and some magestic Baobab
trees are over a thousand years old. There are many legends about this
tree. The most famous one is that the God's were so angry with mankind
about their behaviour at some point in the past, that they plucked all
the Baobabs out of the ground and planted them upside down, with their
roots facing up. That is why Baobabs look like they do. A beautiful story.
There are just a few dozen species to be seen on my site, I hope you
enjoy the photographs. Please click on a thumbnail picture below to see
a larger version of the photo (please note that your Internet browser
must allow pop-up pages and javascript). For ease of use, there is also
a numbered link on the pop-up page, so that you can go from one photo
to the next.
© Please respect the copyright protection on my work and contact
me if you are interested in possible reprint permisions. Thank you
and I hope you enjoy viewing my photographs.
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