How is it possible for a tree to become one of the most important tourist attractions in a country? To know the answer you have to visit the Big banyan, a huge fig tree that has grown for more than 200 years in the Botanical Garden of the city of Howrah, near Calcutta, India.
The Great Banyan is so extensive that it alone constitutes a large forest. And it continues to expand, being the largest known tree in India, perhaps in all of Asia. It occupies an area of no less than 14.500 square meters and its canopy covers a circumference of almost one kilometer, which provides generous shade in a rather dry and hot region.
The actual age of the Great Banyan is not known exactly, although it is mentioned in some 1884th century travel books. It has withstood two major cyclones in 1886 and 1925, attacks by fungi and parasites of all kinds and even the impact of lightning in XNUMX. Since then it has lived without its main trunk, which had to be cut down to save the rest. From the tree.
A few years ago a path was built around this tree-forest that now threatens to disappear engulfed by the branches of the Great Banyan, which does not stop growing and is more alive than ever.
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