Ténéré Tree-Vachellia tortilis

The Ténéré Tree (French: L'Arbre du Ténéré) was a solitary acacia (Vachellia tortilis), that was once considered the most isolated tree on Earth—the only one for over 150 kilometres (93 mi). It was a landmark on caravan routes through the Ténéré region of the Sahara Desert in northeast Niger, so well known that it and the Arbre Perdu (Lost Tree) to the north are the only trees to be shown on a map at a scale of 1:4,000,000. The Tree of Ténéré was located near a 40-metre (130 ft) deep well. It was knocked down in 1973 by a truck driver.

Scale (map) - Wikipedia

The Tree of Ténéré was the last of a group of trees that grew when the desert was less parched than it is today. The tree had stood alone for decades. During the winter of 1938–1939 a well was dug near the tree and it was found that the roots of the tree reached the water table 33–36 meters (108 to 118 feet) below the surface.

Commander of the Allied Military Mission Michel Lesourd, of the Service central des affaires sahariennes [Central service of Saharan affairs], saw the tree on May 21, 1939:

One must see the Tree to believe its existence. What is its secret? How can it still be living in spite of the multitudes of camels which trample at its sides. How at each azalai does not a lost camel eat its leaves and thorns? Why don't the numerous Touareg leading the salt caravans cut its branches to make fires to brew their tea? The only answer is that the tree is taboo and considered as such by the caravaniers. There is a kind of superstition, a tribal order which is always respected. Each year the azalai gather round the Tree before facing the crossing of the Ténéré. The Acacia has become a living lighthouse; it is the first or the last landmark for the azalai leaving Agadez for Bilma, or returning.

In his book L'épopée du Ténéré, French ethnologist and explorer Henri Lhote described his two journeys to the Tree of Ténéré. His first visit was in 1934 on the occasion of the first automobile crossing between Djanet and Agadez. He describes the tree as "an Acacia with a degenerative trunk, sick or ill in aspect. Nevertheless, the tree has nice green leaves, and some yellow flowers". He visited it again 25 years later, on 26 November 1959 with the Berliet-Ténéré mission, but found that it had been badly damaged after a vehicle had collided with it:

Before, this tree was green and with flowers; now it is a colourless thorn tree and naked. I cannot recognise it — it had two very distinct trunks. Now there is only one, with a stump on the side, slashed, rather than cut a metre from the soil. What has happened to this unhappy tree? Simply, a lorry going to Bilma has struck it... but it has enough space to avoid it... the taboo, sacred tree, the one which no nomad here would have dared to have hurt with his hand... this tree has been the victim of a mechanic...

The Tree of Ténéré was knocked down by a truck driver in 1973. On November 8, 1973, the dead tree was moved to the Niger National Museum in the capital Niamey.

A simple metal sculpture representing the tree stands where the tree once was.

[간단히 말해서, 빌마로가는 트럭이 그것을 쳤습니다 ... 그러나 그것을 피할 수 있는 충분한 공간이 있습니다 ... 금기시되고 신성한 나무, 여기 유목민이 감히 손으로 상처를 입지 않았을 것입니다 ...이 나무는 정비공의 희생자였습니다 ...... 테네레의 나무는 1973년에 트럭 운전사에 의해 쓰러졌다. 1973년 11월 8일, 죽은 나무는 수도 니아메이에 있는 니제르 국립 박물관으로 옮겨졌다. 나무를 대표하는 단순한 금속 조각이 나무가 한 번 있었던 곳에 서 있습니다.]

 

Vachellia tortilis, widely known as Acacia tortilis but now attributed to the genus Vachellia,[4] is the umbrella thorn acacia, also known as umbrella thorn and Israeli babool,[5] a medium to large canopied tree native to most of Africa, primarily to the savanna and Sahel of Africa (especially the Somali peninsula and Sudan), but also occurring in the Middle East.

Acacia tortilis, haak- en steekdorings, Springbokvlakte - Vachellia tortilis - Wikipedia