Rooted

On the edge of the waterways in the Selinda Reserve, grows one of Africa's more exotic trees, a mighty Sausage Tree. The tree beguiles and entices an array of wildlife, from birds and insects, to much larger animals like the African elephant. For generations local healers in Africa have used sausage trees to help young men enhance their manhood, and young women to grow bigger breasts. This is the intimate story of the seducer among trees.

In the lush, tropical forest surrounding South Africa's Soutpansberg Mountains, we meet one of the world's most awe-inspiring giants, a 600-year-old Outeniqua Yellowwood. At 35 meters, she is Queen of this forest. There is an abundance of life that visit the Giant, from beautifully grotesque spiders that spin their webs amongst the tree's branches, to Samango Monkeys and Guinea Fowl that feast on the Queen's cones.

The arid, rocky terrain in Goegap Nature Reserve burns in the hot African sun. But not everything in the parched landscape is wilted and bleak, on the edge of a rocky outcrop, an enormous tree boasts with large, leathery, heart-shape leaves. Its pale, gnarled, crinkled roots feeling their way across the massive boulders it's perched on, some splitting the rocks in order to find water. This is a Namaqua Rock fig, a tree of myth and fantasy.