Page 26 - BSAM 2017 Q1

Top; The view of Baines Baobabs from Khubu island with Nxai pan in the foreground.
Middle; Painting by Thomas Baines in1862.
Bottom; Photograph by Thomas Packenham 2006. Note that the fallen tree is still surviving but lagging behind the others in size.
Facing page; Baines Baobabs viewed from di erent angles. The fallen tree (raft) in 2015 (facing page, middle left).
The inspiration
Baines Baobabs is a magni cent group of baobabs growing on the edge of an ancient salt pan in the Nxai Pan National Park in Botswana. e trees were named a er omas Baines (1820-1875), a British artist, nat- uralist and explorer. He painted the group of seven Baobabs in 1862 while he and James Chapman were on expedition to the Victoria Falls.
During a camping safari in May 2015, my wife Sandi and I paid a visit to the famous Baines Baobabs. Walk- ing around and photographing these beautiful giants from all angles was indescribable. One could sense the awe and inspiration omas Baines must have felt 150 years ago when he painted the Baines Baobabs. is image from nature is surely worth replicating.
We also noticed five smaller and younger trees growing in close proximity to their much bigger par- ents. Hopefully more baobabs will germinate and survive to join the other youngsters to compliment and eventually replace the existing magni cent seven.
It was actually these younger trees sprouting close to the major ones that in uenced us to use eight smaller trees with the seven big trees. e fore- and mid- ground would represent the historical arrangement of the Baines Baobabs and the background the eagerly anticipated possible future.
(I have great faith and con dence in the Botswana government's e orts and intentions at conserving their beautiful country, their ora and fauna, and of course their precious Baobabs.)
We decided to use this inspirational image of the famous Baines Baobabs as seen from Khubu Island as a blue-print to create our forest.
e next step was to plan and sketch the possible arrangement and position of the trees based on the omas Baines group.
24 | BCI | January/February/March 2017