LONELINESS IS NEXT TO TIPSINESS
Hankies at the ready, this is a sad one. The Tree of Ténéré was a lone acacia tree that once stood in central Niger, in the remotest part of the western Sahara Desert. Astonishingly, it was the only tree in the surrounding 250 miles—making it officially the loneliest tree in the world, and, more importantly, a significant landmark on caravan routes traversing the open sands of the Sahara. I say that the Tree of Ténéré stood in the Sahara, because the fact of the matter is tha