Sunday, January 30, 2011

Bar Inside a Tree in Africa

A bar inside the trunk of a Baobab tree has tourists flocking from far and wide just to drink a cold brew in the amazing tavern. It was fashioned inside a massive 72 foot (22 meters) high tree in a garden in Limpopo, South Africa, for thirsty locals.


The amazing Big Baobab Pub, complete with a phone and dartboard, hollowed into a tree.

Grown in the grounds of Sunland Farm, the tree trunk is so wide it takes 40 adults with outstretched arms to encircle its 155 foot (48 meters) circumference. The trunk is hollow, but its walls are still up to 6.5 feet (2 meters) thick.

The tree has its own cellar, with natural ventilation to keep the beer cold.

Carbon-dating has determined the ancient tree to be about 6,000 years old. “This tree is likely to be older than the Giza Pyramids of Egypt.” said Heather van Heerden, owner of Sunland Farm.

“It is phenomenal to have such a magnificent tree in your back garden. It is possibly the biggest living thing on earth.” she adds.



More than 7,000 visitors come from all over the world to see the grandiose Baobab every year and have a drink in its pub, which has 13 foot (4 meter) high ceilings and comfortably seats up to 15 people.

“One year we had a party and squashed 54 people inside, but I wouldn’t recommend that.” said Mrs. van Heerden.

She and her husband Doug came up with the brainchild to set a bar up inside when they found a natural hollow in the Baobabb shortly after they bought the farm in the late 1980’s.

“When Baobabs are more than 1,000 years old, they hollow naturally.” said Mrs. van Heerden.



The pub has surprisingly plenty of space for customers to sit.

While clearing out the hollow centre of the tree trunk, the van Heerdens found historical evidence of Bushmen — indigenous people of the Kalahari desert — who may have once lived in the tree, and artifacts belonging to the Voortrekkers, the Dutch pioneers who travelled through South Africa in the mid-1800’s.

“We found the remains of a Bushmen bed made from rocks, possibly in the 1700’s.” says van Heerden. “We could also gather that a Voortrekker once lived here who repaired ox wagons for the Great Trek because we found tools and wagon pieces.”

The Bushmen of the Kalahari have long had a unique relationship with the peculiar looking tree, which stands leafless for the better part of the year, with its branches resembling a mass of roots pointing upwards to the sky.


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