Sagole Big Tree

The Sagole baobab is the biggest in the country: figures vary with how it is measured, but the trunk is given as some 10.8 metres across and almost 33 metres round, the tree stands 20.5 metres high, and the crown spreads about 38 metres. Its Venda name means the tree that roars; it became the stoutest tree in the country after the Glencoe and Sunland baobabs collapsed in 2009 and 2016, and mottled spinetails breed in it. Baobabs are hard to age because they lack normal growth rings and the wood is fibrous, so estimates in the many hundreds to over a thousand years are offered with appropriate caution. It stands in open bush near Sagole village in Venda country, without fencing or a visitor centre - you drive to it on gravel, and people from the village will usually appear and show you around for a small amount. Baobabs across southern Africa have been dying in unusual numbers over the past decade, with heat and drought discussed as causes, which has made the surviving giants more closely watched.

What to look for

• The largest baobab - a trunk almost thirty-three metres in circumference, the biggest in the country.
• The uncertain age - hundreds of years at least, but baobabs cannot be ring-counted.
• The village setting - no fence or centre, standing in open bush near homes.
• The wider die-off - large baobabs failing across the region in recent years.

When to go

April to September - summer here is extremely hot. One hour.

Good to know

Roads in are gravel and signage is poor; asking locally is normal and expected. There are no facilities. Summer temperatures in this corner of Limpopo are severe. A small payment to whoever shows you the tree is the local custom.

Nearby

Tshipise hot springs are west; Musina and the Limpopo are north.

Key facts