A picture of South Africa’s 1000-year old fig tree – the Wonderboom – shows how the marvel of nature looked over 100 years ago.<\/p>\n
The Wonderboom\u00a0is a unique 1000-year old fig tree found north of the Magaliesburg Mountains in Pretoria.<\/p>\n
Today, the tree is made up of a small grove of trees, including the original trunk – which is over 5.5 metres wide – and about 16 ‘daughter’ trees which sprang forth from the original mother tree.<\/p>\n
The tree’s growth pattern is unique. As the tree grew, its branches spread and drooped to the ground, and eventually took root, forming new, smaller trees around the core.<\/p>\n
The Voortrekkers, led by Hendrik Potgieter, discovered the tree in 1836 and named it the Wonderboom. Thereafter, many Voortrekkers used it as a rest stop on their journeys.<\/p>\n
The tree was also culturally significant to the indigenous tribes in the past, forming part of their legends and mythos.<\/p>\n
Before being hit by a fire and a parasite infestation, the tree was substantially larger than it is today.<\/p>\n
This is how the tree looked in the past, versus how it looks today.<\/p>\n
(Image sources: National Archives<\/a>, Wikipedia Commons<\/a>)<\/p>\n While the “then” photo above cannot be accurately dated, it is estimated to be from around 1900.<\/p>\n The images below show the scale of the tree from above.<\/p>\n This is what Pretoria looked like in the 1900s<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n This is what Joburg looked like in 1900<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Wonderboom](\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Wonderboom-then-2.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\nMore on then and now<\/h3>\n