• About Mopani
  • The Mopani Cause
  • Mopani Trees For Life
  • The Mopani Tree
• Cabernet Sauvignon
  • 2006
• Shiraz
  • 2006
• Chardonnay
  • 2007
• Chenin Blanc
  • 2007
• Rose
  • 2009

The Mopani Tree

One of the best known and most widely recognized trees in all the hot, low lying areas of Southern and central Africa. Its distinctive butterfly shaped leaf and thin, flimsy seed pod make it easy to identify.

To man it forms, together with Camel Thorn and Leadwood, one of the triad of definitive "firewood" trees. No bush camp is complete without a great campfire and Mopani is an ideal wood, slow burning, yet giving off intense heat and forming the most magnificent coals for cooking on. Even the smoke produced has a pleasant, sweet aroma to it.

To animals though, it is a crucial source of protein for much of the year. The leaves have an extremely high protein content, whilst the soft seed pod with its fleshy seed is even higher.

The leaves have a faint turpentine smell and flavour and this makes them unpalatable (although in no way inedible) to most species of ungulates. This limits the extent to which they are browsed upon, particularly by impala.

When the protein contents of their preferred diet falls below the critical levels, almost all species will feed to some extent on Mopani leaves. The pods though are different. They are widely eaten by most species, including grazers, and are a key component in most ecosystems.

Elephants are extremely partial to Mopani leaves and the younger shoots, and do tremendous damage to small and medium sized trees, often killing them. Indeed, measuring tree damage in Mopani woodland is one of the proven methods of estimating elephant carrying capacity for an area.