Deciduous baobab trees are sprouting in Ha Noi. Adansonia digitata has a wide trunk and produces flowers up to 17cm wide. Nguyen Van Nga, a Hanoian farmer, is proud to say that he is caring for 108 African baobab trees.

This tree is not easy to grow. Many Vietnamese have tried and failed to raise it. During a trip to the central provinces, the 43-year-old farmer saw "the desert giant" in Hue. Though he did not know much about the tree, its vitality and beauty fascinated him.

Nga recalls that it was not difficult to get baobab seeds from the tree's owner.

"He said that many people had taken the seeds home to grow, but they could not survive. Hue City tried to plant the tree throughout the city many times, and they all died. I took the seeds home because I was curious, but I didn't have much hope," he says.

After bringing them home to Thanh Oai District, Ha Noi, he gave one to a cousin and buried the other two underground.

Suddenly, one of the two piles of earth where he had buried them cracked apart. Within the shell, hundreds of small trees twisted together, resembling sprouts.

"I was astonished," he says. "I managed to separate each one of the 200 little saplings. Although I was very careful, I only got about 130 trees, and I put them into plastic bags that contained soil."

Over the last few months, which they have spent in the plastic bags, 108 trees are still alive and developing.

Nga says that in Africa, this tree can grow as high as 30m, with a huge body. Its stem circumference can be as high as 50m. "African people consider it a sacred tree because it is both a medicinal plant and also provides food, water and shelter for the people of the desert," he says.

But Nga seems a little concerned about developing all 108 trees.

"I did not expect them to grow so quickly. I do not know how they will develop in the next few months. I cannot find enough land to grow all these trees so I will give them to others," he says.

Nga does not intend to make profits from this rare tree.

If successful, he plans to spread the trees across the country and even present them as a gift to African countries, where there are not so many baobabs anymore.

According to Professor Nguyen Lan Dung, the baobab tree (also known as Adansonia) originated from Africa and typically reaches a height of about 5 – 25m and a diameter of 7 – 11m (although exceptional trees are taller and wider).

The oldest and largest baobab tree in Viet Nam sits on a hill in Ha Tien Town, in the southern province of Kien Giang. According to some people in the area, this baobab is at least 100 years old.

"When I was born, I saw the tree already there," said an 80-year-old local resident.

There is a baobab tree in the restaurant Baobab Tree at 80 Mai Thuc Loan in Hue City, which Nguyen Huu Dinh, a hydro-engineer, brought back from France in 1950.

Another baobab tree in Tran Phu Street in Hue is even older.

In HCM City, there are four baobab trees imported from Africa (three in the Botanical Garden and one in the Teachers' Training College), but they are only 10 years old.

Nga's family have decided to donate trees to their village's temple, communal People's Committee and district People's Committee. They will also present trees to the Management Board for President Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, the temple for the National Founder in Binh Da (Thanh Oai District), the Do Temple (Bac Ninh Province), the Temple of Saint Tran Hung Dao (Nam Dinh Province), the Hung Temple (Phu Tho Province), Ba Vi National Park, the Parliament building (Ha Noi), the Dong Loc T-junction (Ha Tinh Province), the Department of T78 Administration (Ha Noi) and the People's Committees in the cities and provinces of Thua Thien-Hue, HCM City, Da Nang, Thanh Hoa, Ninh Binh and Nam Dinh.

Prof Dung said these places can contact Nga at 0904755065 and 0936913616 to arrange to receive the saplings.

VNS