Discovery Channel - Africa's Trees of Life (2016) Part 1 Sausage Tree

Africa’s Trees of Life Surviving in Africa is not easy. A demanding human population increases the pressure on wilderness areas and persecutes the animals that threaten crops and livestock. But there are some protected areas in southern Africa where leopards, elephants and hyenas live a sheltered existence. Trees Of Life tells three stories of the endurance and survival of Africa’s most iconic natural history symbols – from predators to prey, extreme environments and legendary trees. A pride of lions, a territorial leopard and a cheetah mother play out their lives in the shadows of three impressive trees – the Sausage tree in the Luangwa Valley in Zambia, the Acacia Camel Thorn, in the Kalahri in South Africa and the Marula Tree in the Manyaleti near the Kruger National Park. This is the incredible story of the hunters and the prey that depend on these remarkable trees – the trees of life.

Part 1 Sausage Tree

The anchor of the film is an iconic tree – the Sausage Tree. Large fruits and crimson flowers keep the herbivores well fed when all around the vegetation is withered and dry. Bees collect pollen and nectar and, at the same time, fertilize the flowers. Placed on the branches, we see birds, baboons, vervet monkeys and squirrels drinking the abundant nectar. Below them, puku, impalas and bushbuck eat the fallen flowers.

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