So sometimes they are also called “bottle trees”.
Some baobabs have drawn more tourists than others.
There is one such baobab on the King River road just south of Wyndham in Western Australia.
The tree is about 15 meters in circumference and the trunk is hollow.
On its hollow trunk, a door was cut to give access to its roomy interior.
The Boab Prison Tree in Derby.
Photo credit:Marie-Luise Klaus/Flickr
This continued for sometime and people started calling the tree the Hillgrove Lockup.
There is another baobab south of Derby that is rumored to have served the same purpose.
The hollow is 6 meters high and has two natural holes for ventilation.
Many historians have dismissed these stories as nothing but folklore.
There is no evidence that baobabs were ever used as prisons.
Some claimed that the Wyndham baobab tree had a huge bolt fastened into it for chaining prisoners to.
Even fairly descriptive articles about Derby and Wyndham in the 1900s make no mention of the prison trees.
Myth or otherwise, both baobabs are very popular among tourists.
The local tourist industry has also exploited the story to promote tourism to these areas.
Photo credit:Djambalawa/Wikimedia
The Derby Prison Boab Tree in 1959.
Photo credit:Philip Schubert/Flickr
Carved graffiti on the tree.
Photo credit:Luke Redmond/Flickr
Inside the Wyndham Boab Prison Tree.
Photo credit:Jon Connell/Flickr
Sources:Wikipedia/Life & Death in the Sunshine State
