Marula Feast

This year we have had a bumper harvest of marula fruits from the marula trees around the lodge.  This tree dominates the landscape here in our area of Balule, with its beautiful patterned trunk and its leafy canopy, which gives excellent shade.  Past guests will be able to visualise the tree by the swimming pool which is a male marula tree.  Interestingly, each tree has a specific gender – the female one bearing the fruits and the male one flowers only. 

Outside the kitchen there is a female marula tree. Over the past few weeks the marulas have been falling to the ground, where they ripen and turn from green to yellow and give off a sharp, sweet scent.  The warthogs have visited the harvest on several occasions as well as baboons and of course elephants.

Marula fruits can be used in various food and drink recipes;  a local, very potent, alcolholic beer; jellies and jams and the delicious amarula liqueur.  With the glut of fruit I decided to try making some jelly and collected a bucket full of marulas ready for processing.  Unfortunately, an elephant got to them first!  He came a couple of nights ago and vacuumed the carpet of  marula fruits from the floor, as well as eating the contents of my bucket!  Our two staff, Lucia and Iris, who were woken by the noise, had to make a lot of noise to keep him from also destroying a young baobab we have growing nearby.

The myth of elephants getting drunk on marula juice is not one that will hold up scientifically – they would have to eat well over one thousand fully-fermented marulas in one gigantic feast for the fermented juice to have any effect.  
 

This young warthog enjoys the feast

There are many stories surrounding the marula tree.  The one I like best is that an infusion of the bark can be used to determine the gender of an unborn child.  So bark from a male tree if you want a boy, and bark from a female tree if you want a girl.  Success rate - 50%!