Banto Faros and mangroves make up the mangrove swamp forests at the mouth of the Gambian River. I wanted my blog to be called The Baobab (featured right) as Baobab trees (Adansonia digitata) are one of the tree species in the region, as well as one of my favorite trees also featured in one of my favorite books The Little Prince (highly recommended good read!), but it wasn't avaialble. The Baobab trees are (according to my trusty source, wikipedia) typically found on old beaches higher in elevation than the coast.
The Gambia has very sparse forest cover. Of the trees that I could find there are: The Ron Palm (Borassus aethiopum), the Silk Cotton tree (Bomboax costatum), Mahogany tree (Khaya Senagalensis), African Rosewood (Guibourtia coleosperma), and the Mango tree (Mangifera indica).
The geography of the savannah and sahel regions have gallery forests or moisture forests where trees rely on ground water, opposed to rainforests where, rain, supplies the vegetation it's water.
Land degradation and deforestation lead to desertification and drought which are exacerbated by, that's right I'll say it, climate change. Desertification and drought are some of the major threats facing The Gambia and other regions of the Savannah and Sahel landscapes. One of the best ways to fight desertification is to plant trees. Desertification is basically the absence of ground water where ground water is stored in vegetation. Introducing more vegetation and namely more trees can help incredibly. But this is a difficult task when coupled with drought, poverty, and lack of resources.
When I start a PCV blog, I start at the beginning and read every entry. I am a friend to Brooke through my son, Ian, who has been a close friend of hers for several years. I learned about you through Brooke and she referred me here. So I will be checking in and I like to comment on every entry. The Baobab Tree looks other worldly. I have seen pictures of it before maybe on Discover Channel or National Geographic. Billie
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