The Mighty Matapalos

The enormous matapalo tree (literal translation is 'tree killer'), or strangler fig in English, is a very important tree in the cloud forest ecosystem. The way the tree grows leaves lots of nooks and crannies for all sorts of insects, animals and plants to set up home on it or in it.

It is a fascinating tree. The matapalo's seed firstly needs to make its way by bird or animal poo to the branches of any other species of tree. There, it germinates and starts to send roots down towards the ground. It takes a number of years, but the roots eventually take hold in the ground and wrap themselves around the trunk of the victim tree. They grow thicker and stronger, as the matapalo tree simultaneously starts to grow upwards above the height of its victim tree. As the years pass, the matapalo tree's canopy is higher and broader than the other tree, the trunk completely encases the other tree's trunk and so the original tree eventually dies, strangled and starved of light and nutrients. In the end, the victim tree rots and collapses, leaving the majestic matapalo, often with a large hollow space inside its trunk as evidence of its evil doings. Inside the trunk of a fantastic matapalo tree in Miraflor.

Climbing into a matapalo up the fallen trunk of the original, strangled tree. A few seconds later, I was quickly running down again when I realised I had disturbed a bee's nest.