In 1973 the tree of Ténéré was estimated to be 300 years old, and could have been much older.
For centuries, the tree sat alone in the middle of the Sahara, the most remote tree in the world, 250 miles from the nearest civilization.
Nomads would travel for miles across the desert, every day looking for the arboreal lighthouse in the middle of the sands.
With roots reaching down over 100 feet to reach the depressed water table in the Sahara, the tree of Ténéré was literally, rooted in place.
It watched the Sahara get drier and drier; it stood watch as the world far separated from it went from a world of horses and wood to a world of steel and concrete.
It stood and shaded its little portion of the desert through at least 4 African empires, French colonization, and Niger independence.
The tree, probably not alone at the time, was standing when Harvard was founded, Galileo was found guilty, and the Ming dynasty was brought to a crashing end by a Manchu invasion.
The Salem witch trials came and went, Isaac Newton brought the law of gravity to the world, and James Cook claimed Australia for England.
A few colonists thousands of miles away rebelled and formed the United States of America, the French rebelled, and the world population went from under a billion to 6 billion people.
Alone it stood there, 250 miles of open space on every side, and then in 1973 a drunken truck driver struck it and killed it. WTF is wrong with people? I understand being a truck driver through the Sahara is a long boring job, but seriously, one obstacle for 250 miles and you hit it?
Niger has erected a metal facsimile in its place and the actual tree can be seen in Niamey, Niger.
For centuries, the tree sat alone in the middle of the Sahara, the most remote tree in the world, 250 miles from the nearest civilization.
Nomads would travel for miles across the desert, every day looking for the arboreal lighthouse in the middle of the sands.
With roots reaching down over 100 feet to reach the depressed water table in the Sahara, the tree of Ténéré was literally, rooted in place.
It watched the Sahara get drier and drier; it stood watch as the world far separated from it went from a world of horses and wood to a world of steel and concrete.
It stood and shaded its little portion of the desert through at least 4 African empires, French colonization, and Niger independence.
The tree, probably not alone at the time, was standing when Harvard was founded, Galileo was found guilty, and the Ming dynasty was brought to a crashing end by a Manchu invasion.
The Salem witch trials came and went, Isaac Newton brought the law of gravity to the world, and James Cook claimed Australia for England.
A few colonists thousands of miles away rebelled and formed the United States of America, the French rebelled, and the world population went from under a billion to 6 billion people.
Alone it stood there, 250 miles of open space on every side, and then in 1973 a drunken truck driver struck it and killed it. WTF is wrong with people? I understand being a truck driver through the Sahara is a long boring job, but seriously, one obstacle for 250 miles and you hit it?
Niger has erected a metal facsimile in its place and the actual tree can be seen in Niamey, Niger.
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