Today we hiked to a fruit orchard that’s used by the camp and local community for food. They grow lemon, banana, and papaya saplings, which we helped water this afternoon. It was exhausting work, as there were many trees, only four jugs, and we could just pull a half gallon at a time from the well.
Volunteers bringing water up from a well to water a local fruit orchard 
Filling jugs with water to carry to the fruit orchard Inventive use of an old bottle as a watering can head. Used to moisten soil to fill sapling plugs Rocky terrain found throughout Zanzibar Young African baobab tree (Adansonia digitata)
I learned about the ethnobotany of the area, as the locals believe that every plant can be used to help some ailments. As a horticulturalist, I always love learning more about the plant life around me. Here’s more of what I learned today:
- Mdaa (Euclaea racemosa): used to treat coughing.
- Mtope tope (Annona senegalensis, or soursop): cures snake bite wounds, constipation, and stomach pain.
- Mlashore (Lantana camara): cures stomach pain in pregnant women.
- M’baazi (Cajanus cajan, or pidgeon pea): cures nosebleeds and stomachaches.
- Mpera (Psidium guajava, or guava): stomach ulcers, stomach pressure, stomachache, relieve cramps.
- Mkwamba (Flueggea virosa): cures children’s colds, infertility in women, child fever.
- Mdimu, Msitu (Suregada zanzibarensis): children’s stomach pains, cramping.
- Mpambake (I can’t find the scientific name, but I talked about it in a previous email): is used in nyungu (the 7 leaves method I spoke about earlier). Helps with easier childbirth.
- Baobab- Gorgeous trees!!! They have beautiful bark, which I attached a picture of it above. They are currently in dormancy, and so they don’t have leaves on their branches. The bark is used as medicine for a large variety of ailments.
Gianna
P.S. If you missed my first post about my work as a conservation volunteer in the Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park, check that out here!