Author: HerrHolle

Shortly after 7 a.m., a small fire is reported about 3 kilometres as the crow flies from the houses at Lucerne Farm. A fairly strong north-easterly wind drives a first fire head up the 600 metre long hill, where Chris and Peter from the FYNBOS TRUST are the first to arrive after 30 minutes, but have to retreat immediately due to the masses of smoke and heat.

Although fire spreads much more slowly downhill than uphill, within 2 hours the fire had already spread through the 2 kilometre long adjoining valley. 15 year old tinder-dry fynbos developed an eerie blaze, the plume of smoke could still be seen at the Cape of Good Hope, 80 kilometres away as the crow flies. The fire spread not only downwind but also sideways, reaching the mountainous area of Beloftebos and threatening to jump across the district road into the Lucerne Farm Game Reserve. Helicopter intervention prevented this at the last second.

Many neighbours came to help with their fire engines, which was no fun in the 36 degree heat. In addition, highly equipped professional fire brigades from a radius of 100 km and 3 fire-fighting helicopters were constantly in action. ‘Work-For-Fire’ are specially trained “ground troops” who lay down counterfire in impassable terrain … Nothing fights fire better than fire!!! So we also secured the buildings of Lucerne Farm with counter-fires by burning the fynbos vegetation around these houses: just in time before the wind shifted in the afternoon and the fire burnt out  in a northerly direction on the lines of our counter-fires.

The all-clear was only given at 5 p.m., all infrastructure could be saved, almost 700 hectares = 7 square kilometres of fynbos were burnt down.

What looks bleak at first is the start of a new growth cycle: the fynbos needs the fire, in just six months it will be green and blooming here. Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of alien seeds will also be brought to life by the fire, so we will have a lot of work to do fighting aliens in the next 2-3 years.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has published an article worth reading about introduced plants in South Africa, the associated threat to ecosystems and water supplies and the costly and necessary rescue efforts.

The fynbos blossoms just a few months after the controlled fire. Here the approximately one metre high Aristea spiralis, a striking blue lily plant

At the beginning of September 2020, 4 calves were discovered. Today the 5th was added. So the small herd of this rare antelope species is growing pleasingly