L'Arbre du Ténéré

I guess there aren't that many famous trees in the world. This Wikipedia page lists only four in Africa, so maybe I should count myself as lucky that I can wander on down to Niger's National Museum for a glimpse of the famous Arbre du Ténéré just about any time I feel like it. I checked it out on Saturday, along with the rest of the Museum.

L'Arbre du Ténéré was famous for being a solitary, isolated tree in the middle of the Sahara desert. This highly visible, revered landmark seems to have the curious problem of being repeatedly struck by passing trucks, one of which finished the job in 1973. Seeing the tree today, hundreds of miles from where it once grew, is a little bit like visiting a mausoleum. It's a weathered old piece of wood rooted in a concrete block and enclosed in a metal cage, mercifully inaccessible to motor vehicles.