In honor of South Africa and the World Cup, I decided to focus on the Rooibos bush, which has the distinctive feature of only existing in one place on the planet, the Western Cape of South Africa. This fragile plant has adapted beautifully to the seasonal harsh conditions of this Cedartree region. The Rooibos flowers make a highly prized red tea and the local farmers consider it a very valuable cash crop. There is added value to the tea if the farmers don’t use pesticides and get Biodiversity certification. That means that they use nature’s creatures to control the health of their bushes. In the case of the Rooibos there is a problem with a small moth that lays an egg in the stem of the Rooibos flower. The egg hatches into a grub which then munches its way through the stems and eventually kills the bush. Rather than use pesticides the farmers have found a novel way of solving the problem. Their farm lands are open and fence free, allowing baboons, native to the area, easy access to the plants. They love grubs and comb their way through the bushes in search of these nutrious sources of protein. The plants are saved, the farmers make money selling their popular tea and the baboons are revered and considered heroes by all the villagers.
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