planet-eating trees and other desert things

a planet-eating tree. in sudan!

i don't know why, exactly, but ever since i read 'the little prince,' i've been obsessed with baobab trees. baobabs are these amazingly gnarled, hulking trees that, at least according to the little prince, can make quick work of a small planet.

'a baobab,' the story goes, ' is something you will never, never be able to get rid of if you attend to it too late. it spreads over the entire planet. it bores clear through it with its roots. and if the planet is too small, and the baobabs are too many, they split it in pieces ...'

after you've read that, it's sort of impossible to pass up a picnic in a dried river bed lined with them.

(we saw a caravan of camels, too.)


first sighting of a planet-eating tree. my friend was slightly less impressed than i was. slightly.


the sun setting over the planet-eating trees.


planet-eating tree trunk.


planet-eating branches.


a caravan of camels near the planet-eating trees.


heidi photographs the caravan leaders.


water bottles make pretty good impromptu drums. this happens a lot in sudan. no joke.

leftovers

a while back, i posted a some shots from a wedding in obeid. here are a few more images from that day -- this time from the men's side:


traditional sudanese grub. clockwise from top: yoghurt, rice, pickled things, meat, cheese, bread, beans, eggs, falafel and (at center) asida (stew with flour paste).


the men sat separately from the women, drinking, eating, laughing. the usual.


the groom is the very smiley man to the left.

between sudan and asia

a rancher guides his cattle past tis issat, 'smoking waters.'

the internet is a bit of a luxury these days. hopefully i'll have a strong connection before the week is over. until then, i wanted to put a little something up about (northern) ethiopia.

not far from lake tana, the source of the blue nile, is a waterfall called tis issat. directly translated from amharic, it means smoking waters. near the overlook, kate and i met a rancher who has seen the falls shrink as water from the blue nile has been redirected into hydroelectric and irrigation projects.

it used to be that the waterfall overwhelmed everything, throwing a cloud of mist over the whole area. two rainbows hung permanently in the sky. those days are over, it seems, but the area itself is still incredible.




it's a short hike to the falls. you set off from a small town, where cows trod past local barbershops.

polaroids in transit

i'm in transit and still have much photo editing to do, but here are the last of my tz artistic exposures from sudan -- baobabs from different angles and one straw-and-stone hut.