Jim Holden and Sonia Marsh were on a two-week trip to Madagascar, over the Christmas holidays, checking out the best experiences for our guests. We had no idea how many species of mammals, reptiles and plants are endemic to Madagascar, including 6 of the world’s 9 species of Baobab trees.

Why is Madagascar so different?

It all boils down to the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana. Madagascar separated from the African and Indian land masses approximately 80 to 135 million years ago, allowing plants and animals on the island to evolve in relative isolation.

Gondwanaland

Adansonia grandidieri, sometimes known as Grandidier’s baobab is endemic to Madagascar

The baobab tree also known as the “upside-down” tree, due to its branches looking like roots sticking up in the air, grows only in Africa, Madagascar and Australia.

Adansonia grandidieri, sometimes known as Grandidier’s baobab, is the biggest and most famous of Madagascar‘s six species of baobabs. It can grow to enormous sizes, and may live to be 3,000 years old, although one in South Africa was dated at around 6,000 years old.

During our visit, we had an excellent guide, Theo, who explained how to tell the age of the Baobab trees endemic to Madagascar.

• The size of the baobabs:

They reach 16 to 98 feet in height and have trunk diameters of 23 to 36 feet. The largest circumference on record is 47 metres or 154 feet.

• It is not unusual for old baobabs to become hollow inside with increasing age.

Animals and humans have used the the caves formed inside these huge baobabs as protection, shelter and even housing for thousands of years. The baobabs have also been used as jails, post offices, bush pubs and hiding places.

See the photos below. (Photo credit: Justfunfacts.com Sunland-Baobab.)

Hiding places in the Baobab

• More facts about baobabs

Baobabs are deciduous, and their bat-pollinated flowers bloom at night. When the leaves fall off in the dry season, the tree remains leafless for 9 months. The leaves are an excellent source of protein, minerals and vitamins A and C, and are also used as condiments and medicines. Cream of tartar (a cooking ingredient) was initially produced from the acidic baobab seed pulp The fruit has a velvety shell and is about the size of a coconut, weighing about 1.5 kilograms (3.3 lb). It has a somewhat acidic flavour, described as ‘somewhere between a grapefruit, pear and vanilla.

Baobab fruit photo credit: http://justfunfacts.com/interesting-facts-about-baobab-trees/

Baobab tree flower:http://justfunfacts.com/interesting-facts-about-baobab-trees/

Elephants like to eat the bark of the baobab during the dry season to obtain moisture from the trunk’s reserves. The Baobab does not suffer from ring barking and can regrow bark if damaged by elephants.

Elephant eating the trunk of a Baobab tree

Finally, the Baobab tree makes for a wonderful backdrop for a Sundowner, that’s the name for a wonderful African tradition of “happy hour” as the sun sets behind the magnificent baobab trees.

Sundowner next to the Baobab tree

Sundowner cocktail hour next to the Baobabs in Mandrare

Interested in Madagascar?

More posts coming on the lemurs, lodges, and chameleons.

Want to visit Madagascar? Please contact Jim Holden at (949) 500-0094 or e-mail JimH@HoldenSafaris.com

Want to join a small group of no more than 10 guests to Madagascar in 2021? Please contact Sonia Marsh at (949) 402-7828 or e-mail SoniaM@HoldenSafaris.com

And don’t forget our small group Safari to Zambia in November 2020. CLICK HERE

We would appreciate you sharing our Safaris with your family and friends. Referrals are the way we grow our business. We appreciate very much any referrals you make on our behalf.

Asante Sana

Jim Holden and Sonia Marsh

Jim Holden and Sonia Marsh pointing at a lemur in Madagascar’s Andasibe rainforest

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If a Safari is on your bucket list, and you see some fantastic deals online, this Newsletter will answer some questions you may be asking yourself such as:

• Why Not Plan My Safari Myself?

  

  Why not Plan my Safari Myself?

• How Can I make sure I’m getting the best price?

We plan your Safari based on your priorities: wildlife, authentic tented camps, lodges with all the amenities, cuisine, cultural interaction, professional guiding, your desired activity level, and we customize it with our expertise. Our partners in Africa keep up-to-date with all the specials offered by the camps and lodges, for example: “stay 3 nights and pay 2, or by combining properties that offer free nights and transfers. These deals change frequently and have specific conditions and exclusions. We keep track of all the best deals and can quickly pull together an itinerary that makes the best use of them. We also know where to see the migration, and which months offer lower prices with great game-viewing. We always make sure your safety is a top priority no matter where you stay.

• What happens if there’s an emergency?

Emirates from LAX to Dubai and major cities in East and Southern Africa

Sometimes flights get canceled, or you may have a more serious emergency. Since we are in the U.S. and our partners are in Africa, there is always someone to help you. All of this means less worry for you.
If you want the cheapest online Safari, and have lots of time to do your research, then you should book your own trip. But if you are unfamiliar with Africa, and want a seamless trip, then call us. All Safaris planned by Holden Safaris include “hand-holding from start to finish because we know you’ll come back changed.

 

For more information on designing your Safari please contact
JimH@HoldenSafaris.com (949) 500-0094

To join one of our small group Safaris with a Purpose, contact SoniaM@HoldenSafaris.com (949) 402-7828

CHECK OUT OUR SAMPLE SAFARIS HERE
CHECK OUT OUR SMALL GROUP SAFARIS 

The post Why Not Plan My Safari Myself? appeared first on Holden Safaris.

One of the women on our 2018 “Women With a Purpose” trip shares an emotional description of the beauty of Kenya and its people. Watch her testimonial.

3 spaces left for “Women Travel with a Purpose” to visit Father Henry and his schools, September 23-30, 2019.

• Meet Father Henry, and the children he has rescued off the streets of Nairobi, Kenya.
• See the Big Five, Africa’s Wildest Wildlife, in its natural setting of the African Savannah.
• Call Sonia on 949 402 7828 or Jim on 949500 0094 to book your place.

Check out the  itinerary here. 

The children love to perform. See their video below.

Here are some photos from last year’s trip.

Join us by contacting Jim Holden: (949) 500-0095, or Sonia Marsh (949) 402-7828.

See you in Kenya!

The post An Emotional Description of the Beauty of Kenya and its People appeared first on Holden Safaris.

Zambia safaris, two Kings, a Scout and a Knight; how did King Msiri, King Leopold II, Frederick Russell Burnham, and Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, “King of Copper”, all play a part in the development of Zambia?

Sir Alfred

While today, most Americans are unfamiliar with the geography of Africa, back in the early 1900s, Africa was the new frontier to adventurous Americans.

Map of Zambia

One very famous American, Theodore Roosevelt, led a year-long expedition to East Africa. It’s purpose was to collect specimens for the Smithsonian Institution, today known as the National Museum of Natural History.

A little earlier, another American, albeit of Welsh descent, explored Central Africa; Henry Morton Stanley went to Africa with the New York Herald, in search of the British missionary and explorer, Dr David Livingstone. Most of us will be more familiar with Stanley’s greeting on finding Livingstone; “Dr Livingstone, I presume?”

Two more Americans found fame and fortune in Africa; Frederick Russell Burnham and Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, the “King of Copper”.

King Msiri

But before we tell their story let me bring in King Msiri.

Looking at a map of Zambia, you’ll see the country is shaped like a butterfly in flight. The shape is due to the Congo Pedicle, a slender piece of neighboring Congo, which almost bisects Zambia in two. It was King Msiri, who, instead of signing a treaty with the British, represented by Cecil Rhodes, instead signed a deal with the King of Belgium, King Leopold II, granting Leopold mineral rights to his Kingdom.

King Leopold II of Belgium

Enter Frederick Russell Burnham! With his tracking and hunting skills, learned growing up on a Sioux Indian Reservation in Dakota, Burnham became Head of Scouts to Cecil Rhodes. While leading an expedition into today’s Zambia, not far from the Congo Pedicle, Burnham noticed copper deposits, which he recognized from his time in Arizona, working on copper mines.

Frederick Russell Burnham

It wasn’t long before along came Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, an acknowledged expert on copper mining in Utah and Arizona. With American finance and expertise, the copper mines of Zambia and Congo are amongst the largest producers of copper in the world today.

Thankfully the copper deposits are restricted to the area around the Congo Pedicle. For not far away, in Zambia, is one of the world’s foremost wetland systems, the Bangweulu Wetlands, teeming with birdlife, and home to Black Lechwe, an antelope with lyre shaped horns, endemic to Zambia.

Black Lechwe, Zambia

The Bangweulu Wetland is also one of the few places one can still see the prehistoric looking Shoebill Stork.

Shoebill stork, Bangweulu Swamp

But if you decide to visit the Bangweulu Wetlands, you can thank Two Kings, a Scout and a Knight, that it’ll take you twice as long to get there, as you’ll have to circumnavigate the Congo Pedicle.

Congo pedicle

It would have been much quicker if King Msiri had granted the mineral rights to Cecil Rhodes and not King Leopold II.

Can you think of any other Americans who’ve been prominent in the early exploration and development of Africa? Leave your comments below and I’ll make sure to reply.

Thanks.

Jim Holden

Safari Jim (Musings on Africa).

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