Learn
Famous Baobabs and Where to See Them
Where to see baobabs: the Avenue of the Baobabs, Botswana's ancient giants, Australia's prison boabs, and dozens more famous trees, parks and gardens around the world.
Where California Baobabs are growing
- Where California Baobabs are growing
- Notable baobabs
- Parks and reserves
- Gardens and nurseries
- Conservation projects
- Harvest and trade
Baobabs grow wild in mainland Africa, Madagascar and northern Australia, and people have planted them across the tropics for centuries. These are 56 baobab places worth knowing: famous old trees, parks and reserves, botanical gardens and nurseries, conservation projects, and the communities that harvest baobab fruit. Every one is on the globe above. Each pink dot is a city where California Baobabs seeds or trees have shipped.
West Africa
Adansonia digitata is the only baobab native to mainland Africa. It grows across dry savannas from Senegal to Sudan and south to Limpopo, and it's Senegal's national tree.
Park or reserve
Bandia Reserve
Near Dakar, Senegal
A wildlife reserve full of old baobabs, an hour from Dakar. The baobab is the national tree of Senegal and appears on its coat of arms.
Harvest and trade
Baobab harvesters of northern Ghana
Upper East Region, Ghana, and southern Burkina Faso (approximate location)
KAIBAE built northern Ghana's first dedicated baobab supply chain and processing plant in 2012. The brand Aduna buys wild-harvested fruit from more than 3,000 women across the Upper East region and southern Burkina Faso.
Southern Africa
Baobabs don't make reliable growth rings, so the giants are dated with radiocarbon. Some have passed 2,000 years. Since 2005, 9 of the 13 oldest known African baobabs have died or lost their oldest stems, Chapman's Baobab among them.
Notable baobab
Ombalantu Baobab
Outapi, northern Namibia
About 800 years old. Its hollow trunk has served as a chapel, a post office, a house and a hiding place.
Notable baobab
Holboom
Nyae Nyae Conservancy near Tsumkwe, Namibia
One of the largest baobabs in Namibia, in the Nyae Nyae Conservancy.
Notable baobab
Baines' Baobabs
Kudiakam Pan, Nxai Pan National Park, Botswana
A group of seven baobabs at the edge of Kudiakam Pan, painted by the artist-explorer Thomas Baines in 1862. The same trees still stand today.
Notable baobab
Chapman's Baobab
Ntwetwe Pan, Makgadikgadi, Botswana
Fell January 2016
Named after the explorer James Chapman, and used as a landmark by David Livingstone and other travelers. It fell in January 2016, one of several ancient African baobabs to die in recent years.
Notable baobab
Green's Baobab
Gutsha Pan, 27 km south of Gweta, Botswana
Carved with the names of 19th-century hunters and traders, including Joseph Green and Hendrik Matthys van Zyl. A national monument of Botswana.
Notable baobab
Kubu Island
Sowa Pan, Makgadikgadi, Botswana
A granite outcrop rising out of the Makgadikgadi salt pans, covered in baobabs. It is a national monument of Botswana.
Notable baobab
The Big Tree
Zambezi Drive, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
A giant African baobab upstream of Victoria Falls, long a landmark for travelers crossing the Zambezi.
Harvest and trade
B'Ayoba
Harare, Zimbabwe (approximate location)
Founded in 2012, B'Ayoba buys wild baobab fruit from thousands of rural harvesters across Zimbabwe, then mills the pulp into powder and presses the seeds for oil at its factory outside Harare. It's Zimbabwe's organic-certified baobab producer.
Park or reserve
Mapungubwe National Park
Limpopo, South Africa, where it meets Botswana and Zimbabwe
Sandstone hills dotted with baobabs at the meeting of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers. Part of the UNESCO Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape, the center of an early southern African kingdom.
Notable baobab
Sagole Baobab
East of Tshipise, Venda, Limpopo, South Africa
The largest baobab in South Africa. Its Venda name, Muri kunguluwa, means "the tree that roars."
Conservation project
Baobab Guardians
Venda, Limpopo, South Africa (approximate location)
Ecologist Sarah Venter found that goats were eating almost every young baobab in Venda. Since 2014, local women raise seedlings and guard them, with fences of sticks, bricks and wire, until the trees are about 3 m tall and out of reach.
Harvest and trade
EcoProducts
Limpopo, South Africa (approximate location)
Started in 2006 by baobab ecologist Sarah Venter, one of South Africa's first producers of baobab fruit powder and seed oil, made from fruit bought from local harvesters.
Notable baobab
Sunland Baobab
Sunland Farm near Modjadjiskloof, Limpopo, South Africa
Partly collapsed
One of the best-known baobabs in Africa, with a small bar built inside its hollow trunk. Radiocarbon dating puts it at about 1,060 years old. Part of the tree split and collapsed in 2016 and 2017.
Notable baobab
Glencoe Baobab
Glencoe Farm near Hoedspruit, Limpopo, South Africa
Split (2009), alive
Possibly the stoutest tree in the world and the second-largest baobab in South Africa, dated to about 1,835 years old. Its trunk split apart in 2009.
Garden or nursery
Pretoria National Botanical Garden
Pretoria, South Africa
A baobab is one of the highlights of the garden's arboretum, south of where the species grows wild.
Harvest and trade
Baobab Products Mozambique
Manica Province, Mozambique (approximate location)
Women harvesters in Manica collect baobab fruit, and the company turns it into powder and cosmetic oil for export to Europe, the UK and South Africa. It is owned by the nonprofit MICAIA, with 20% of shares set aside for the harvesters' co-operative.
Harvest and trade
Baobab fruit of Malawi
Mwanza District, Malawi (approximate location)
Malawi is one of the main exporters of baobab fruit pulp in Africa. In Mwanza District, villages have made juice from baobab and tamarind fruit since the late 1990s.
East Africa and Arabia
African baobabs fill the dry savannas of Tanzania and grow along the Kenyan coast. Across the Arabian Sea, a grove in southern Oman is thought to have been brought by traders long ago.
Park or reserve
Ruaha National Park
Iringa Region, central Tanzania
One of the largest national parks in East Africa, with huge baobabs scattered across the Great Ruaha River valley.
Park or reserve
Tarangire National Park
Manyara Region, northern Tanzania
Savanna crowded with old baobabs. In the dry season, elephants strip the bark and dig into the trunks for the water stored inside.
Harvest and trade
Baobabs of Kilifi
Kilifi County, Kenya
A different kind of baobab export: whole trees, dug up and sold abroad for about $3,000 each. After a public outcry, Kenya banned uprooting and exporting Kilifi's baobabs in November 2022.
Garden or nursery
Wadi Hinna
Dhofar, Oman
A grove of African baobabs in the Dhofar mountains of Oman, far from the species' native range and thought to have been brought by traders long ago.
Madagascar
Seven of the nine baobab species grow only on Madagascar, each in its own part of the island. Grandidier's baobabs line the Avenue of the Baobabs near Morondava; only about 160 wild Perrier's baobabs are left in the north. The newest, Adansonia bozy, was split from the za baobab in 2026.
Park or reserve
Tsimanampetsotsa National Park
Southwest Madagascar, south of Toliara
Home of the "Grandmother," a Fony baobab whose oldest stem is estimated at about 1,600 years old, a leading candidate for the oldest baobab in Madagascar.
Garden or nursery
Arboretum d'Antsokay
Near Toliara, southwest Madagascar
Founded in 1980 by Swiss botanist Hermann Petignat: 40 hectares and more than 900 plant species from the spiny forest of southern Madagascar, baobabs included.
Park or reserve
Reniala Reserve
Mangily, near Ifaty, southwest Madagascar
A protected patch of spiny forest where large Fony baobabs grow among octopus trees and other plants found only in southern Madagascar.
Conservation project
ARO Baobab and GSPBM
Andranopasy, western Madagascar
Led by Dr. Seheno Andriantsaralaza of the University of Antananarivo, a group restoring baobab forest with the people who live there. Their community nurseries, started in 2021, raised about 50,000 seedlings for planting in 2023, and roughly three in four survived.
Park or reserve
Kirindy Mitea National Park
Menabe, southwest Madagascar
Coastal dry forest south of Morondava where Grandidier's, Za and Fony baobabs grow.
Conservation project
Dry Forest
Belo-sur-Mer, Menabe, Madagascar
A Malagasy nonprofit, founded in 2019, replanting Kirindy Mitea National Park. Its three nurseries can raise 100,000 saplings a year, and in 2021–22 it planted 64,000 native trees, 2,600 of them baobabs. Fire and cattle are the hardest part.
Notable baobab
Avenue of the Baobabs
Road between Morondava and Belon'i Tsiribihina, Menabe, Madagascar
About 20 to 25 Grandidier's baobabs, some thought to be around 800 years old, lining a dirt road. Protected as a natural monument since 2007.
Notable baobab
Baobabs Amoureux
Near Morondava, Menabe, Madagascar
"The lovers": two Za baobabs whose trunks twist around each other, a short drive from the Avenue of the Baobabs.
Conservation project
Baobab powder from Menabe
Menabe, western Madagascar (approximate location)
Since 2016, the Malagasy conservation group Madagasikara Voakajy has helped village groups harvest Grandidier's baobab fruit and turn it into powder to sell, so the wild trees bring in income. Fruit falls from October to December.
Park or reserve
Kirindy Forest
North of Morondava, Menabe, Madagascar
A dry deciduous forest reserve where three baobab species grow side by side: Grandidier's, Fony and Za.
Park or reserve
Ankarafantsika National Park
Boeny Region, northwest Madagascar
Dry forest in the northwest where Malagasy baobabs (Adansonia madagascariensis) grow.
Conservation project
Missouri Botanical Garden, Madagascar
Antananarivo, Madagascar (approximate location)
Missouri Botanical Garden's Madagascar program works to save the island's threatened trees. In 2026 its researchers helped show that a ninth baobab, Adansonia bozy, long lumped in with the Za baobab, is a species of its own.
Park or reserve
Ankarana Special Reserve
Diana Region, far northern Madagascar
Limestone tsingy and dry forest, and one of the few places to see Perrier's baobab, one of the rarest baobabs in the world.
Conservation project
Saving Perrier's baobab
Loky-Manambato Protected Area, northern Madagascar
Only about 162 wild Perrier's baobabs are left. Since 2019, Madagasikara Voakajy, Fauna & Flora International and Fanamby have planted more than 4,000 seedlings here, part of the Global Trees Campaign.
Park or reserve
Montagne des Français
Above Antsiranana (Diego Suarez), northern Madagascar
Dry forest above the bay of Antsiranana, one of the last strongholds of the Suarez baobab, which grows only around this bay.
Conservation project
BaoBat
Around Antsiranana (Diego Suarez), northern Madagascar
Kew, the University of Antananarivo and Madagasikara Voakajy studying how bats and other animals pollinate the Suarez baobab and spread its seeds, and raising 5,000 seedlings with local communities since 2022.
Réunion and Mauritius
Baobabs were brought to Réunion around 1767, and both islands have old African baobabs in their historic gardens.
Garden or nursery
Le Jardin Naturel
Saint-Leu, Réunion (approximate location)
A botanic garden and nursery on Réunion that grows rare baobabs, along with pachypodiums, adeniums and plumerias, and ships seeds and plants worldwide. One I highly recommend.
Garden or nursery
Jardin de l'État
Saint-Denis, Réunion
A botanical garden laid out in the 1760s and a historic monument since 1978; its trees include African baobabs. Baobabs were brought to Réunion around 1767.
Notable baobab
Baobab des Camélias
Les Camélias, Saint-Denis, Réunion (approximate location)
The largest baobab on Réunion, on a rise in the Camélias neighborhood, probably left from the old Château Morange estate. It was the first tree in the island's inventory of remarkable trees.
Garden or nursery
Pamplemousses Botanical Garden
Pamplemousses, Mauritius
An 18th-century botanical garden with a baobab near the entrance and a small grove of baobabs of more than one species.
India and Sri Lanka
African baobabs were carried to India and Sri Lanka centuries ago, probably by traders. Some of the largest baobabs outside Africa grow here.
Garden or nursery
Baobabs of Mandu
Mandu, Madhya Pradesh, India
African baobabs planted centuries ago around the old fort city of Mandu, probably brought by traders. Locally called "Khorasani imli."
Notable baobab
Hathiyan ka Jhad
Naya Qila, Golconda Fort, Hyderabad, India (approximate location)
Thought to be the largest African baobab outside Africa: eight fused stems around a hollow big enough to hold dozens of people. Radiocarbon dating put its oldest part at about 475 years.
Notable baobab
Mannar Baobab
Pallimunai, Mannar, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka's biggest baobab. About 40 African baobabs survive in Sri Lanka, most around Mannar, the largest group outside Africa and Madagascar. They're protected even though they were brought in by people.
Australia
Australia has one baobab, Adansonia gregorii, found only in the Kimberley and the nearby Northern Territory. Its ancestors probably arrived from Africa as seeds floating across the Indian Ocean.
Garden or nursery
Margaret River Grass Trees
Margaret River, Western Australia (approximate location)
A Western Australian tree company that sells large, mature boab trees, delivered Australia-wide.
Garden or nursery
Gija Jumulu
Kings Park, Perth, Western Australia
A boab trucked 3,200 km from the Kimberley to Kings Park in 2008, the longest land journey ever made by a tree its size.
Garden or nursery
George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens
Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
Boabs and baobabs from around the world grow side by side in the gardens' Africa–Madagascar section, one of the few near-complete baobab collections.
Notable baobab
Gregory's Tree
Victoria River, 15 km west of Timber Creek, Northern Territory
Carved by Augustus Gregory's North Australian Expedition, which camped here in 1856; the boab is named after him. It is also a registered Aboriginal sacred site, Ngalibinggag.
Notable baobab
Boab Prison Tree, Wyndham
King River Road, south of Wyndham, Western Australia
Once called the Hillgrove Lockup. Newspaper stories from the 1910s say prisoners were held in it, but no record from the time confirms it.
Notable baobab
Boab Prison Tree, Derby
6 km south of Derby, Western Australia
A hollow boab about 1,500 years old, 14.7 m around. It was long said to have held prisoners in the 1890s, but there is no evidence it did. It is a registered Aboriginal site.
The Americas and Europe
Baobabs also grow far from their native ranges, in botanical gardens in Florida and Spain and in the city squares of Recife, Brazil.
Garden or nursery
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
Coral Gables, Florida, USA
Big African baobabs grown from seed the plant explorer David Fairchild collected in Africa.
Garden or nursery
The Kampong
Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida, USA (approximate location)
David Fairchild's former home, now part of the National Tropical Botanical Garden. Its baobab collection is one of the best anywhere, with six of the nine species.
Garden or nursery
Baobabs of Recife
Praça da República, Recife, Brazil
Recife has a number of old African baobabs in its squares, the best known in Praça da República. Some are protected as city heritage, and residents link them to the memory of enslaved Africans.
Garden or nursery
La Concepción Botanical Garden
Málaga, Spain
A historic garden on the Costa del Sol with a collection of nine baobabs of several species.
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons; see each caption, or the photo credits.