Giant Sal Tree

1400 years old Sal Tree During my stay in Korba (Chhattisgarh), about one year ago I was in the nearby forests. My sister Jyoti and brother-in-law Pramod Nimonkar were with me. We had an opportunity to see one of the oldest Sal trees. Its estimated age is about 1400 years. Its diameter on the ground level is 28 feet and 22 feet when measured with the chest height of a normal person. Height is 28 meter. The giant tree is surrounded by many different types of trees leaving no space for the photographer to take the full height of the Sal tree in a picture. Sal, botanical name is Shorea Robusta (Latin), is a native tree of Indian subcontinent. Beside, it is also found in Myanmar, Nepal, Bangla Desh. It has many other names, like Shala, Sakhua etc. in different areas. Popularly known as 'Sarai' in the local dialect of Chhattisgarhi, Sal is a hard timber wood. In the recent past a lot many trees were cut to make sleepers for Railways, but now substituted by cement slabs as a measure to conserve them.