Hoax or No?

I was flicking through our Garden cruises brochure yesterday when I came across this picture, put there by Tony Russell, star of some of our garden cruises with Fred Olsen and regular writer/presenter for BBC gardening shows- but what do you think – Hoax or Not?




The tree the goats are in is an evergreen Argan tree. It is found mostly in Morocco. The tree reaches heights of 25-30 feet, and has a knobby, twisted trunk that allows for goat climbers. The goats climb the tree because they like to eat the fruit of the tree, which is similar to an olive.

This isn’t a hoax – It’s actually true, who'dve guessed!
Farmers actually follow the herds of goats as they move from tree to tree. Not because it is so strange to see goats in trees and the farmers like to point and stare, but because the fruit of the tree has a nut inside, which the goats can't digest, so they spit it up or excrete it which the farmers collect. The nut contains 1-3 kernels, which can be ground to make Argan oil used in cooking and cosmetics. This oil has been collected by the people of the region for hundreds of years.

Strange but true!