Yes, the Avenue of Baobabs is beautiful. But right next to that beauty lies incredible ugliness in the form of poverty. You really need to shoot your baobab photos at just the right angle to avoid coming face to face with it. A change in perspective gives you…well…a real change in perspective.
Jamie took some shots that show you exactly what I mean.
Yes, there’s a small village of mud huts adjacent to the baobabs. It may be possible to be poorer, but I can’t imagine what form that would take.
Little girls are little girls no matter how rich or poor they may be. It doesn’t take any money to draw a hopscotch grid in the dirt and have a ball. She probably doesn’t think there’s anything unusual about living in a hut made of mud and sticks.
We were stopped to take a photo of a lone baobab when this procession passed our taxi.
Note the little boy sitting atop the cart. He’s keeping a wary eye on us as they approach AND as they move away from us. “Who are these strange people and why are they taking our photos?”