Standing Tall: African Baobabs in Mumbai

When I left my house early on a Sunday morning for a tree walk, seeing a baobab tree on the side of the roads of Bandra, a Mumbai suburb, was something I least expected. The only thing I knew about baobabs was that they grow in Africa. The hour-long tree walk had opened up a new world of trees for me, and I found the baobabs particularly impressive and fascinating. They have a striking demeanour, characterised by massive, wide trunks and unruly branches that make up the crown. But there’s a lot more to this tree than its grand appearance. As soon as I returned from the walk, I looked up a rather interesting Instagram account called @baobabs_of_bombay, which the person leading the walk had suggested. In this corner of the internet, I found a small, wholesome community that ardently keeps track of the city’s baobabs.

As one of the largest and oldest trees in the world, the baobab is the subject of legends, myths and folklore. In Africa, where the tree is native, it is rightly called the “tree of life”. These trees support entire ecosystems and nurture creatures big and small — from elephants enjoying their fruits to birds nesting in their branches. Their peculiar appearance has earned the tree many interesting names. When the tree loses all leaves in the dry season, the bare branches look like roots, giving it the “upside-down tree” moniker.  

Eight species of baobabs in the world, found across Africa, Madagascar, and Australia, belong to the genus Adansonia. The one found on the Indian subcontinent is Adansonia digitata. How this sacred, revered tree native to Africa and Madagascar got here is somewhat of a mystery. A study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science (2015) investigates the history of the tree’s introduction to India. It suggests that there could have been more than one instance of the baobab’s introduction to the Indian subcontinent. While transoceanic drift could have been a factor, the study concludes that it was more likely a result of human-assisted dispersal. Some studies state that the baobabs were introduced to the subcontinent by African migrants; others attribute their arrival to Arab and Portuguese traders. Although there aren’t definitive answers to how this magnificent tree arrived in India, we do know that it’s been around for centuries. The tree has plenty of local names across the country: gorakh imli (Hindi), Brahma mulika (Kannada), enugulouda chettu (Telugu), anaippuli, papparappuli (Tamil), chitrala (Sanskrit), gorakh chinch (Marathi). 

While the baobab is found in several parts of the Indian subcontinent, from Uttar Pradesh to Tamil Nadu, its distribution in the bustling city of Mumbai is especially noteworthy. Around 120 of these giant trees thrive in Mumbai, which is likely India’s only metropolitan city with so many baobabs. The Instagram account @baobabs_of_bombay was an initiative started by Zico Fernandes, an admirer of these mighty trees. They came to his attention in 2014 when he read about miscreants attempting to damage a baobab in Mumbai. In 2017, Zico started documenting the city’s baobabs so more people would notice and appreciate them. The Instagram account is a brilliant, handy archive that holds images and stories of some of the baobabs of Mumbai. He’s given some specimens unusual but interesting names! My personal favourites are “Malcolm in the Middle” and “Parry Hu mein” (for a baobab that stands opposite Parry Wine Shop in Bandra).

With Zico’s advice, I went baobab-spotting myself. My first exploration was in May 2023 when I visited St. John the Baptist Church in the restricted SEEPZ complex in Andheri East. The sight of these giant, majestic baobabs was surreal. The church is open to the public only once a year, on the second Sunday of May, for a few hours in the morning. While the church is in ruins, the seven tall trees in its compound are thriving.

You can see other iconic baobabs all year round in and around Mumbai. A stout baobab welcomes visitors at the entrance to Byculla’s Rani Baug. Thane’s Ghodbundar village houses multiple baobabs, and Ghodbundar Fort, built in the 1500s by the Portuguese, is an interesting place to visit. Vasai Fort, built by the Portuguese in the 1530s, has a few baobabs in and around the ruins. There is a recurring theme here. Where baobabs stand aligns with the theory that Portuguese traders brought them to the subcontinent.

The African baobab (Adansonia digitata) is a deciduous tree with a stout trunk that can grow 25-30 m tall. Native to arid and semi-arid regions, these giant succulents (pachycauls) can hold large quantities of water in their trunks. The African baobab is not just mighty in its stance and appearance but is also the world’s longest-living angiosperm (flowering tree). Baobabs can live up to 2,000 years. They bloom before the arrival of monsoon as the dry season comes to an end. In some parts of India, new foliage on a baobab is believed to appear around ten days before the first monsoon showers. Its white flowers are large, with waxy downward-facing petals hanging from a long stalk. The flowers bloom only at night, attracting nocturnal pollinators like bats. The oval, relatively large fruits of the baobab are favoured by animals and people alike. Humans consume the pulp and make a dry powder to add to juices, etc. Monkeys are known to savour this fruit’s sweet, tangy pulp, which might also be why the baobab is called the “monkey bread tree”.

Soon after discovering Mumbai’s population of the African baobab, I found out that there are several accounts of these trees across India. There are around 1,000 baobabs in and around the ancient city of Mandu in Madhya Pradesh. Bhil communities look after these trees, and the fruit of the baobab (mandu ki imli) is a source of livelihood. Shopkeepers sell the fruit’s pulp and seeds (considered to have medicinal qualities) and pods (as souvenirs). Additionally, clusters of baobabs are found along the western coast of India, from Gujarat to Goa, and a few in northern Karnataka. Another well-known, remarkable specimen is the baobab in Hyderabad’s Golconda Fort, possibly the largest baobab outside Africa. It is estimated to be over 400 years old and is called Hatiyan jhad (elephant tree).

While the baobab is not as abundant in Mumbai as in Mandu, it is a part of the city’s landscape and history. Stop and look at these gigantic trees amidst the concrete congestion that defines the city’s urban spaces. In a metropolis like Mumbai, taking up space is not easy, not even for these resilient baobabs. Across the city, several baobabs have been cut down to make way for construction projects over the last few years. But initiatives like Zico’s shine hope. Although small in scope, they are a way to bring people together to engage with the city’s biodiversity, create more awareness about it, and possibly protect it.

Photo sources: close up of trunk, Rani Baug