THE HEALING POWERS OF Nature Writer: Nathalie Zanoli Photography: Ian Salisbury and Nathalie Zanoli
T
he Bush-Spa, in the heart of South Luangwa National Park, offers a range of wellness treatments enhancing the African safari experience. Africa has an abundance of therapeutic plant life, and at the Bush-Spa this ancient, traditional heritage is embraced, really digging into ‘nature’s drugstore’…Africa’s essence so to speak.
Plant medicine in tropical countries is being scrutinized ever more carefully by the West and many people are looking for therapeutic alternatives to the hard medicines of the pharmaceutical industry. Also, the experience and knowledge of traditional, who know the plants’ requirements and benefits, are being investigated.
A real eye-catcher and easily recognisable therapeutic plant is the sausage tree. This tree needs no introduction and is named after the easily distinguished fruit, shaped like a sausage, which may weigh up to 10 kg...and South Luangwa has plenty of them, in all shapes and forms. Locally known as a muvungula, the tree has the scientific name Kigelia africana which is derived from the Bantu language.
The striking, dark maroon flowers are pretty to look at, but unpleasantsmelling. However, this does not seem to bother the wildlife at all. These blood-red flowers bloom at night on long, rope-like stalks that hang down from the limbs of the tree, making them ideally suited to visits by night-flying bats and insects, resulting in pollination. And when the flowers fall, they are eaten by a large number of animals including baboons and most antelopes. The tree’s hefty sausage-shaped fruit can make somewhat dangerous projectiles for unwary passers-by. However, this same fruit also makes the sausage tree a favourite with the local wildlife, from bush pigs and baboons to hippos and even giraffes, which all eat the young, green sausages. The animals kindly return the favour by dispersing the tree’s seeds in their dung. Elephants actually love to give themselves a good body-glow by using the rough bark for a scrub, and the shady foliage makes a favourite relaxing spot for leopards. Humans have also found uses for the fruit, from the medicinal to the
intoxicating; the fermented fruit apparently makes a great addition to traditional African brews. The hard fruit is said to cure a range of illnesses in raw, cooked or powdered form and is used to treat fungal infections, boils, psoriasis and eczema, as well as leprosy, syphilis and skin cancer. It is also used in the treatment of dysentery, ringworm, tapeworm, postpartum haemorrhaging, malaria, diabetes, pneumonia and even toothache! The Bush-Spa though is tapping into the more traditional cosmetic use of the fruit. Local fallen fruits are harvested and the extract used for all skin treatments. The all-natural signature paste is made right here at the Bush-Spa in South Luangwa and used in just about all African Body Works and Touching Face care treatments. As the fruit works wonders on insect bites too, the Spa team often ‘helps’ safari guests in the remote bush camps with a jar or two of the brown-coloured paste to ease their discomforts.
The traditional use of Kigelia fruit in Africa has been both medicinal – as a treatment for skin complaints from eczema to skin cancer – and cosmetic, as a preparation to firm and enhance skin tissue. Several scientific studies in recent years suggest that Kigelia indeed has remarkable healing and conditioning effects on the skin, and in treating the beginning stages of melanoma skin cancer.
One does not need a scientific study to reveal the benefits of Kigelia africana. Book yourself in for a heavenly African Goddess Facial at the Bush-Spa, listen to the soundtrack of nature, experience a healing touch, relax, and feel and look rejuvenated afterwards... And to think the medicinal sausage tree grows all around the Bush-Spa, and in fact all over Zambia. However, the most famous sausage tree is found at Kazungula, where Dr. Livingstone pitched his camp before he saw the Victoria Falls, and it is said he carved his name in the trunk. Might he have been aware how important the muvungula’s traditional and medicinal properties became years later? TZL
Th award e -winni Bush-S ng p a i so and lo cated pen daily in Luang wa Na side South tional Park. For m ore inf orm www.b ush-sp ation: a.com
