Oh our dear Baobab, how can you truly be gone? You stood tall on the ridge for so many years, and then survived the two terrible hurricanes in 2017, only to be hollowed out and brought down by a throng of larvae from invasive borer beetles.You were badly battered by the storms, and lost parts of your upper branches. But when the skies cleared, we rejoiced to see that you were still standing.
Soon tiny new branches sprouted from your fleshy trunk, and we thought how great that you were able to compensate for your losses and start anew. By the pandemic summer of 2020, you were bursting with blossoms and lifted the spirits of those who made the hopeful pilgrimage down the L’Esperance trail to witness your exuberant flowering.
Although your fabulous flowers would only last for one day, we thought you had fully recovered your life force and would live on into the next century.The bees returned to their spot in the crease of your trunk, and rebuilt their hive, feeding on your pollen and nectar even though the flowers were more designed for attracting the night-flying bats as pollinators.
Sadly, that burst of energy was your last. By the following summer your limbs were crippled by the thousands of larvae laid by the big beetles that bored into your broken places. Your porous, pulpy trunk, which from the outside seemed as strong as an elephant, offered little resistance to its tiny attackers. And was quickly consumed.
Did you already know the summer before that your time was up, after the first generation of beetles arrived? Is that why you threw off so many flowers, hoping to preserve at least some legacy for future generations? You must have also known though that, without a partner to fertilize them, your flowers had never produced viable seeds throughout all those long, lonely years.Still the flowers were lovely, and filled the glorious pandemic summer days with delight for bees and birds and human witnesses, and charmed the bats at night.
There have been baobab seeds brought here from other islands in recent years, and young baobab seedlings might someday attract as many admirers as you once did. I even have a fragile baby baobab, still in a pot, that I tried to raise myself, thinking about providing you one day with a mate to fertilize your flowers.
I never thought that I would outlive you.When I wrapped my arms around you years ago, I was drawn to your strength. And then when I pressed my cheek to your trunk, I felt that I too could be strong, as it turned out I would need to be, for those who would come to lean on me. I didn’t know all the challenges ahead, and still don’t.There will be more losses to come, but I need to say now that you brought me days of unexpected joy that I will always cherish.
