Boab Trees

Aboriginal legends suggest the once vain Boab Tree gained its unusual appearance when the gods punished it's arrogance. As a result it grew upside down - with the roots of the tree stretching into the sky.



The Australian boab tree (Adansonia gregorii) is related to the Madagascan and African Adansonia species known as baobabs. Like its relatives it is sometimes called a "bottle tree", but we locals refer to the trees as just boabs.

There are two theories about how boab trees arrived in Australia. One says the seeds have floated here from Africa and spread from the coast. The other theory suggests boabs might have survived from the time when Africa and Australia were both still part of one continent, the ancient Gondwana, 65 million years ago.

A mature boab tree is a sight to behold. Though not exceptionally high, up to 15 metres, they appear huge. The name bottle tree relates to the swollen trunk that can reach a massive girth of up to 20 metres.

The boab is a very slow growing tree and it takes many hundred if not thousand years to grow into one of those impressive specimens you see everywhere in the Kimberley.