Baobabs are cool

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They dominate entire villages. They make everything else look small. They're cool even when they're not there -- on Likoma Island, we saw a strangler fig that had wrapped its tentacles in a fine lattice pattern around a giant baobab trunk, and living up to its name, strangled the baobab to death, leaving only a giant cylindrical lattice mold - a baobab ghost.

We thought that perhaps these baobabs had spiritual significance because we would often see them scattered across the landscape where every other substantial tree had been removed. But then we learned that they are simply no good for any practical purpose other than gawking, and making us feel tiny. -jjk

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