Climbing Upside Down Trees
Video, Photography and Writing by Dave Katz
I was standing at the base of the huge swollen trunk tree under the hot tropical sun with my good friends and fellow expedition leaders Keith and Tammy. Our goal for the day was somewhat simple: get ourselves up into the top of the tree in front of us although we were relatively certain no one had climbed into this tree using ropes and equipment. Our combined decade of tree climbing experience in a variety of forest types gave us enough confidence to attempt the task at hand.
We decided on a target, and Keith reached up to the rubber elastic bands of a slingshot head that we had just hours prior crudely attached to a ten foot tall bamboo stick with duct tape. He grabbed the handle, reefed down on the elastic bands and aimed. With the quick release of his fingers, a small neon weight bag flew a hundred feet into the air trailing a thin orange cord. Tammy then took out our binoculars and followed the line into a maze of oddly shaped branches where the line then disappeared. With a disappointed look on her face, she passed the binoculars to Keith and all he needed was a quick glance to come to the same impression: not a great shot. As a final confirmation step, we spread out around the base of the tree looking for other clear vantage points. Eventually we came to the conclusion that we couldn't confirm what the line passed over. On the other side of the tree we followed the orange line to the ground where we found the green one-pound bag, untied it from the line and readied the slingshot and line for another shot. Tammy took the elastics and the resulting shot had less power but more accuracy. With the binoculars at ready, I liked what I saw. The line clearly passed over big and alive branches that we guessed were reliable enough to hold body weight. I passed the binoculars to Keith and Tammy and with a simple exchange of facial expressions we all agreed that it was time to tie on our rope. We then hauled the climbing line up and over the branches and fixed the other end to the rope to the base of the tree. Tammy put on her harness and helmet and then attached her ascenders to the rope. Before leaving the ground we conducted a rudimentary safety test by pulling down hard on the rope. In our experience, if the branches held the weight of three people, the placement of the rope would be sufficient for one person's initial climb.
The expedition began as a pipe dream nearly a decade ago while climbing trees in our backyard of upstate New York. Keith and I were undergraduates in college at the time, and were developing what would later become the Cornell Tree Climbing Institute. We were hanging out with a group of students in the top of a Sugar Maple tree among the fantastic colors of the autumn foliage. We imagined taking our newly formed skills to far away places: the Amazon, Borneo, etc.
In the years since those day-dreams our team at Cornell has taken our climbing expertise to many countries and contributed to a variety of projects. Our team completed two expeditions to the island of Borneo with Ornithologists to help better understand arboreal birds' vocal patterns. In California, our group makes an annual trip to the tops of the Giant Sequoia trees to contribute to a long term study on the development of seed cones. In Costa Rica, an annual expedition-style trip delivers tropical climbing curriculum to young researchers. These trips have helped foster our growing interest in using our skills to aid conservation and preservation.
During a conversation with Brian Fisher, a world renowned entomologist and conservation scientist, we became interested in exploring the vertical forest environment of Madagascar. Brian’s prolific work in Madagascar has led to the establishment of the Madagascar Center for Biodiversity (MCB) in Antananarivo. I proposed a collaboration in which we would help train some members of Brian's research group in the techniques of tropical tree climbing in exchange for assistance developing the necessary logistics for our exploratory expedition. Brian liked the idea, as finding reliable tree climbing training anywhere near Madagascar was hard to come by, to say the least.
I put together a team of young explorers and outdoor education instructors from Cornell to join the expedition. All in all our expedition was made up of a group was 15 people with a variety of expertise and interests ranging from PhD entomologists to undergraduate engineers. For two weeks in early January of 2016, we all shared a common goal: explore the Baobab forests of Madagascar.
In reading about the baobab, I learned about many different interesting facts. According to journals I read, the trunk of the tree can measure up to 11 meters in diameter and hold over 100,000 liters of water. Although they are challenging to accurately date, I read some estimates putting the trees at over 2000 years old. They are also known for having large edible fruits and for a useful fiber that can be extracted from the bark.
In addition to the science and facts, there were many interesting myths and stories. I read that baobab are sometimes referred to as the 'upside down trees.' The name comes from the image of uprooting a tree, flipping it over and planted the trunk into the ground. The roots then would become the shape of the branches. An explanation of this imagery from the Shona tradition suggests a humanized story: although the tree was a beloved creation of god, the tree was naughty and vocal, and because of this was planted upside down to hide the sounds and keep it quiet forever.
Other references related the tree to symbolize endurance, tolerance and longevity. All of these facts and myths helped motivate my interest in exploring these trees first hand. In addition, the expedition seemed like it would offer our team at Cornell an opportunity to experience first hand the fantastic geography and culture of the fifth largest island on earth.
Having conducted over 15 expeditions in the last decade, I knew that on-the-ground scouting would be necessary to develop a well organized trip. A month prior to beginning the climbing phase of the project, I flew to Madagascar to begin work with my new colleagues at the MCB. We hired a truck and spent 19 days criss-crossing the island conducting the necessary reconnaissance. We drove thousands of kilometers on less than ideal road conditions, hiked for many hours through the forests and went to plenty of meetings with various NGOs and government bureaus and officials. In the end of our scouting time we were exhausted but had completed the bulk of the required logistical arrangements. We had hired a reliable form of transportation for our bigger group, bought a hundred kilos of food, reserved lodging in safe and convenient locations, and had been issued permits for climbing.
Back a the base of the huge baobab, Tammy begun her climb gingerly. Although we were hopeful the branch would hold her weight, we had no prior experience with climbing these trees and were somewhat concerned to say the least. When Tammy reached the canopy she was able to confirm the climbing line was supported by a variety of strong branches. She then made a new anchor to the tree and detached herself from the main line. The first successful ascent of the trip! Keith and I applauded her bravery from the ground. Her report from the canopy filtered down to us below: although the branches seemed surprisingly soft and supple for their size they were in fact quite strong. Keith and I followed her ascent and into the canopy and we were all pretty stoked to be able to explore this new environment together.
Over the next few days, our group got early starts to avoid the mid-day heat of the tropical sun. We would arrive at the climbing sites before day-break and split into climbing teams of three. Each team attempted and completed ascents into a new tree each day. The students practiced techniques learned from other forest environments including a complex procedure that involves a climber traversing from tree to tree without touching the ground. In this fashion we were able to gather a good deal of information about how to safely climb the Baobab trees.
We began to notice that the trees had an artificial pattern of holes and knobs leading up the trunks of almost all of the trees we climbed. Our local guide, Roger, asked some of the nearby villagers what the holes were. To our surprise we learned that these holes were made to collect the Baobab fruits during the harvest season. Since we already had the ropes in the trees using our slingshot, we decided to give climbing those surfaces a try as well. This style of climbing was different, exciting and quite difficult. We estimated that some of routes would have an equivalent of 5.11 in the Yosemite Decimal system of rock climbing difficulty rating. The team enjoyed this discovery as a welcome break from rope-climbing.
As our time began to run out, we began jotting down some of our discoveries from the trip. In addition to compiling a decent set of protocols and procedures for safe climbing of the Baobab trees, we also made good connections locally with conservation groups. Back at home, we are now imagining and envisioning a longer term project which could help preserve these magnificent trees. In collaboration with the MCB, and Brian Fisher, we have applied for various grants and have been awarded some initial funding to continue exploring the canopioes of Madagasscr.
