Baobab trails

Told through South African conservationist Clive Walker’s own experiences, Baobab Trails is the story of a 40-year journey that covered nearly 28,000 miles of southern Africa’s diverse landscape in an effort to preserve its natural heritage. Forty trees, each commemorating one year of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, are identified and recorded through photographs and art. The history of the trees is woven into Walker’s autobiography, such that as he relates his own personal story—which includes cameos from remarkable personalities such as Ian Player, David Shepherd, Kuki Gallman, Blythe Loutit, and others—he also reveals the history of the region, including that of the 19th-century travelers, hunters, traders, and explorers who carved their names into the trunks of the massive baobabs. A chapter that discusses the Baobab Peace Trail enables and encourages readers to follow their own trail locating these amazing specimens, which include five of the largest known baobabs, throughout southern Africa—in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, the Limpopo state of South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana. This book is both a fascinating personal account as well as the first detailed collection of historical baobab trees.