First stop was Morondava, on the west coast of Madagascar. It's a place of dry deciduous forest, and noted for its Avenue of the Baobabs. Of the nine species of baobabs, six are native to Madagascar. The trees here were once a great forest, now dramatically reduced by cultivation of farms, which is a problem all over Madagascar, where only 10% of its forests remain, and logging continues. Anyway, these trees are so odd and so dramatic that it's difficult to stop taking photos of them, especially at sunset. I'm doing my best to only inflict the best on you here!
Locals harvest large sheets of barks from the trees for roofing material and as long as they don't girdle the tree, it seems to do them no harm. Here's a scar from a past harvest and after it, a photo of a home roofed with strips of baobab bark:
Locals harvest large sheets of barks from the trees for roofing material and as long as they don't girdle the tree, it seems to do them no harm. Here's a scar from a past harvest and after it, a photo of a home roofed with strips of baobab bark:
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