Fancy a pint in the world's only bar that's INSIDE a tree?

 

Last updated at 11:43am on 19th December 2007 Comments

Some people will go to any lengths for a pint - even if it involves supping in a tree.

This bar in the trunk of a Baobab has punters travelling from miles around for a brew.

 

It has been created in a huge 72ft high tree in this garden in Limpopo, South Africa, to keep thirsty locals happy.

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Firsty: The amazing bar, complete with a phone and dartboard, is hollowed into a tree

 

But tourists flock to see the amazing bar inside the hollow 155ft circumference of the trunk.

The tree even has its own cellar, with natural ventilation to keep the beer cool.

The huge tree, in the grounds of Sunland Farm, is so wide it takes 40 adults with outstretched arms to encircle it.

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Tree pints three: The bar is hollowed into the 155ft wide trunk on farmland in South Africa

 

Carbon-dating, which can determine the age of organic materials, has shown the anicent tree is about 6,000 years old. "This tree is likely to be older than the Giza Pyramids of Egypt," said Heather van Heerden, owner of Sunland Farm.

"It is phenomenal to have such a magnificent tree in your back garden. It is possibly the biggest living thing on earth."

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Barking: The pub in Limpopo, South Africa, surpisingly has plenty of space for punters to sit

 

More than 7,000 visitors from all over the world come to see the majestic Baobab each year and have a drink in its bar, which has four metre high ceilings and comfortably seats up to 15 people.

Even though the tree trunk is hollow, it walls are up to two metres thick.

"One year we had a party and squashed 54 people inside, but I wouldn't recommend that," said Mrs van Heerden.

She and her husband Doug came up with the idea of setting up a pub when they found a natural hollow inside the Baobabb shortly after they bought the farm in the late 1980's.

"When Baobabs are more than 1,000 years old, they hollow naturally," said Mrs van Heerden.

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Bizarre: The pub is even lit with eletric lighting and has a bell outside for last orders

 

While clearing out the hollow centre of the tree trunk, the van Heerdens found historical evidence of Bushmen, indigenous people of the Kalahari desert, who may have once lived in the tree.

They also found artefacts belonging to the Voortrekkers, the Dutch pioneers who travelled through South Africa in the mid-1800s.

"We found the remains of a Bushmen bed made from rocks, possibly in the 1700s," says van Heerden.

"We could also gather that a Voortrekker once lived here who repaired ox wagons for the Great Trek because we found tools and wagon pieces."

The Bushmen of the Kalahari always had a special relationship with the strange-looking tree, which stands leafless for most of the year, with its branches resembling a mass of roots pointing in the sky.

The Baobab is also called the Tree of Life because it is capable of providing shelter, food and water for the animal and human inhabitants of the African savannah.

Hundreds of birds, insects and small mammals live in the tree whose fruit, called "monkey bread", is an important source of vitamin C for many animals.

Many myths and legends are told about this king of all trees. "The Baobab is a sacred tree in African culture.

If a baby drinks a mixture of its bark and water, it is said to grow up mighty and powerful," van Heerden explained.

Africans also believe that anyone who dares to pick a Baobab flower will be eaten by a lion.

But if a person drinks water in which the tree's seeds have been soaked, he will be safe from a crocodile attack.

:o :speechless:

 

 

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That tree is incredible!

 

Well, if something like that ever ends up in one of my stories, I give you permission to gloat for introducing me to it.

:o :speechless:

 

 

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That tree is incredible!

 

Well, if something like that ever ends up in one of my stories, I give you permission to gloat for introducing me to it.

 

Treemendous.:dozey:

thats the coolest thing i've ever seen

thats the coolest thing i've ever seen

 

Yes, because you can be "drunk in a trunk"!!:P

 

By the way, I wonder if the most popular drink sold there is root beer??:rolleyes: