Avenue of the Baobabs

A dirt road lined with towering baobab trees, some centuries old, especially striking at sunset.

The trees are Grandidier's baobabs, a species found only in Madagascar. People in Madagascar call them renala or reniala, which means "mother of the forest". Their thick, smooth trunks carry only a small crown of branches at the very top. The avenue is one of the most visited places in the region, and photographers from all over the world come here, especially around sunset.

Why are the trees standing alone?

The baobabs did not always stand alone in an open landscape. Long ago they grew inside a thick tropical forest. As more people came to live in the area, the forest was cut down to make room for farms and rice fields. The local people kept the baobabs, partly because they valued the trees themselves and partly because the trees gave them food and building materials. So today the giants rise above fields and scrub, as reminders of the forest that once surrounded them.

The amazing baobab tree

A Grandidier's baobab has a huge, cylinder-shaped trunk that can be up to 3 metres across, covered in smooth, reddish-grey bark. Its white flowers open around dusk and are said to smell like sour watermelon. At night, fork-marked lemurs and hawk moths visit the flowers to drink nectar and carry pollen from tree to tree. The large round fruits ripen in November and December. People eat the vitamin-rich pulp and seeds, and squeeze cooking oil from the seeds.

Protecting the avenue

Grandidier's baobab is an endangered species, threatened as farmland spreads into its home. The avenue was given temporary protection in July 2007, a step toward making it Madagascar's first natural monument, and a local conservation group called Fanamby helps look after the area. It has planted young baobabs nearby, protected by small fences. The trees still face dangers such as forest clearing, bushfires and water running in from nearby rice fields.

On the globe

The model shows tall baobab trees with thick bare trunks and small flat crowns lined up along a dirt road. Zoom in on western Madagascar to walk down the avenue between the giants.