Representative bark texture, not a photograph of a documented Shea — a species-verified image is still to come.

Dagbani

Tama

Shea

Vitellaria paradoxa

Where It Grows

Northern Region savanna belt

Tamale — Ghana's fourth-largest city is named for this tree — "tama" in Dagbani.

Approximate — anchored to the nearest known place name.

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Why It's Protected

Shea trees are legally protected from felling in Ghana — they take up to 20 years to bear fruit, and the shea butter economy that depends on them is overwhelmingly run by women's cooperatives across the savanna.

Uses & Benefits

—Shea butter — cooking, skincare, and a major export commodity
—Timber only ever from naturally fallen trees, never felled
—Nuts gathered, never harvested from a cut tree

If you would not let a human being die, why would you let a forest burn? Every material is alive — the tree is not a metaphor. The tree is ancestor.

See the Nipa Dua Foundation's environmental work →