ALBEO AND TEneré – Wikipedia
from Wikipedia, L’Encilopedia Libera.
L’ Albero of the Ténéré (in Frani Ténéré tree ) was a specimen of Acacia tootilis subsp. graduate [first] that stood lonely in the Ténéré desert [2] And it was considered the most isolated tree in the world, since there were no others within a few hundred kilometers all around. It constituted a point of reference for the camel caravans that crossed this desert, in the northwest of the Niger, to the point that it was the only tree to be reported on a 1: 4,000,000 scale map.
It was a small tree, just three meters high [3] , the last survivor of a group grown when the desert was less arid than today. The tree remained standing, lonely, for many decades. During the winter of 1938-1939, digging a well near the tree, there was a way to discover that the roots reached a meat of the frieze in the subsoil 33-36 meters deep.
The commander of the Muslim military affairs , Michel Lesourd del Central Service for Saharan Affairs , saw the tree on May 21, 1939: [4]
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«You have to see the tree to convince itself of its existence. What is his secret? How can it still be alive despite the multitudes of camels that shut around it? How is it that in the course of Azalai never does it happen that a missing camel eat the leaves and thorns? Why do the numerous Tuaregs that lead the salt caravans do not cut its branches to make fires to prepare tea? The only possible answer is that the tree is taboo and as such it is considered by the caravan. ” |
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«There is a kind of superstition, a tribal order that is always respected. Every year the Azalai gathers around the tree before facing the crossing of the Ténéré. Acacia has become a living lighthouse; It is the first or last point of reference for the Azalai who leaves Agadez directed to Bilma, or for what returns. ” |
In 1973 the tree was invested and shot down by a Libyan truck driver – as it is said – drunk. On November 8, 1973 the dead tree was transferred to the Niger National Museum in the capital Niamey. In the place where it was stated, a metal sculpture was later placed which symbolizes a tree.
In truth it was not the first clash that the tree suffered by a truck. In his book The epic of the Ténéré , the French ethnologist and explorer Henri Lhote described his two trips to the Ténéré tree. His first visit took place in 1934 on the occasion of the first automotive connection between Djanet and Agadez. He describes the tree as “an acacia with a trunk in a degenerative state, with a sick, unhealthy appearance. Nonetheless, the tree has beautiful green leaves, and some yellow flowers ».
He then returned to visit him twenty-five years later, on November 26, 1959, with the Berlier-Ténéré mission, but found him badly damaged after a vehicle had had a collision with it: [4]
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“Before, this tree was green and flowery; Now it is a colorless thorny and bare tree. I don’t recognize him anymore. He had two distinct trunks, while now there is only one, with a stunned strain on one side, cut for the long more than sawn one meter from the ground. What happened to this unfortunate tree? Simply, a truck directed to Bilma had ended up against it … but it has enough space to avoid it … the taboo and sacred tree, that no nomad would have dared to damage with its hand … this tree was the victim of A mechanic…” |
In 1974 the Niger issued a 50 francs stamp [3] With the Ténéré tree depicted to commemorate the first anniversary of the reduction [5] .
- ^ ( FR ) A. Riedacker, Physiology of trees and shrubs in arid and semi-arid zones: Seminar, Paris-Nancy, March 20-April 6, 1990 , John Libbey Eurotext, 1993, p. 406, ISBN 2-7420-0019-4. URL consulted on April 10, 2015 .
“The host (1961) notes in his article on the Tree of the Ténéré ( Acacia gradeiana ) that we would have found its roots 30 meters deep. ”
- ^ ( IN ) Eric Wagenson, Eastern Mali to Niger to Timbuktu – 2-19 September 06 . are Border-Crossings , January 15, 2007. URL consulted on April 18, 2015 (archived by URL Original on October 24, 2013) .
- ^ a b ( IN ) Anna Laurent, Botanic Superlatives: The Loneliest Tree , in Garden Design .
- ^ a b ( IN ) The Tree of the Ténéré— (2) . are manntaylor.com (archived by URL Original March 2, 2009) .
- ^ ( FR ) Postage stamps and the forest world , in FAO .
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