A Bajan mystery

- August 21, 2013

I love a good mystery. Barbados has a few good mysteries of its own and I am intrigued by each and every one, but maybe none occupy my fascination as much as the Baobab tree at Queen's Park. The baobab is a HUGE tree native to West Africa but lo and behold we have two here! Thing is they are not even in close proximity to each other, so the mystery deepens of where did these ancient trees come from?

We can never know of the tree's origins for certain but we assume seeds floated to our shores given our far easterly location in the Caribbean chain. While other Caribbean islands have baobab trees, their ages are very young in comparison, maybe implying they were brought over by slaves to this part of the world.

Which reminds of the cutest story Dave Bynoe sold me one day. He said "Oh, didn't you know, the seed of the tree at Queen's Park was brought over by a young slave boy. He held that seed in his mouth for the entire journey from Africa to Barbados." Soo sweet but absolutely not accurate Dave...lol. This baobab tree is over 1000 years old, predating slavery by over 5 centuries! But it could explain their appearance in other islands!

To think that this tree stood here before Barbados as we know it existed is so very chilling. It gives me goosebumps. I imagine it holds great stories, secrets and powers in its trunk! While we are usually drawn to its trunk, its flowers are simply stunning, from bud to blossom.

Early blossoms dangling like earrings
Eventually giving way to large yet delicate flowers

I think my friend Malin Martelly was the first to tell me that you can eat/drink baobab. Sure enough a little research revealed that the tree feeds many an African village. From fruit juices and powder made from the flower to drilling its trunk to tap water stored inside, it's benefits are numerous. For further reading please click the following link. http://www.baobab-powder.com/En/Baobab-Health-Benefits/Health-Benefits-of-Baobab-Fruit.html.

Last year groups of Bajans stood in protest as developers attempted to chop down the tree at Warrens for corporate offices. Thankfully they were successful and the tree stands proudly out front the offices now named "Baobab Towers"..oh the irony! At least the tree at Warrens got much attention from that incident and I am sure it will be well secured.

Which brings me to the sad point in this story.

The tree can easily be ignored if you do not know it's there. Outside of the little sign not visible from the pathways, nothing draws your attention to this ancient gem. Queens Park sadly does not attract persons beyond the usual festivals of Agrofest, Crop Over Galas and the traditional Christmas morning fashion parade. The art crowd views art exhibitions periodically at the great house, dancers seem to have owned the gazebo as their studio and I have personally never seen anyone visit the solar house display there.

Maybe something can be done to draw people back to this failing piece of Barbadian history.