Avenue of the Baobabs: Madagascar's natural monument with dozens of 'mother of the forest' trees
The Avenue of the Baobabs preserves the remnant trees of an ancient tropical forest on Madagascar.
The Avenue of the Baobabs at sunset. (Image credit: Giovanni Mereghetti/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
QUICK FACTS
Name: Avenue of the Baobabs, or Alley of the Baobabs
Location: Menabe, Madagascar
Coordinates: -20.2504, 44.4196
Why it's incredible: The baobabs are the remnants of a dense forest that once covered Madagascar.
As its name suggests, the Avenue of the Baobabs is a road in Madagascar that’s lined with towering baobab trees. The trees are the remnants of a tropical forest that once sprawled across the island, and in the modern era they are listed as a natural monument by Madagascar's government.
The Avenue of the Baobabs is made up of endangered Grandidier's baobabs (Adansonia grandidieri) — one of six endemic baobab species in Madagascar. The trunks of Grandidier's baobabs typically grow around 80 feet (24 meters) tall and 10 feet (3 m) wide, but the biggest specimen ever recorded was a 98-foot (30 m) giant with a diameter of 36 feet (11 m), according to the plant sciences faculty at the University of California, Davis.
Grandidier's baobabs have such huge trunks because they store water. However, water doesn't gush out if you drill a hole into a baobab; rather, the trees store water in their cells, in order to grow new leaves and maintain their structure, according to the Baobab Foundation.
The Avenue of the Baobabs is an unpaved road between Morondava and Belo Tsiribihina, two towns close to Madagascar's west coast. About 20 to 25 Grandidier's baobabs line a short stretch of the road, but 25 more trees of the same species grow scattered among rice paddies and meadows just a short distance away — and there are hundreds of baobabs in the surrounding landscape.
Baobabs evolved in Madagascar between 41 million and 21 million years ago, a 2024 study found. Most of the baobab species that exist today remain in Madagascar, but two species — A. digitata and A. gregorii — are found in continental Africa and Australia, respectively. It's unclear how the baobabs got there, but researchers have proposed that the fruits may have crossed the oceans on currents or .
