During the first week of March 2015 a massive fire burnt across the southern Cape Peninsula. An area of about 5,000 hectares was burnt stretching from the slopes of Muizenberg on the Indian Ocean side of the Peninsula across and … Continue reading
The Kogelberg region of the Cape is generally accepted as the true heart of the Cape floral Kingdom, an area of unprecendeted floral diversity and natural beauty. As a result some 100 000 hectares stretching from the coast (Gordons Bay … Continue reading
A special pink Erica found in one tiny area overlooking Walker bay shows its true colours in the winter of 2011……watch this video for more http://youtu.be/Q2YxepcoGt0
This close up of Sencio triqueter was photographed by Heiner Lutzeyer some 18 weeks after the fire. Macro shots like this show the intricate nature of the flowers in the Asteraceae family. The family name is derived from the genus Aster, while … Continue reading
Some four months after the fire and following good autumn and early winter rains the landscape is full of floral surprises. Splashes of pink on the upper sandstone slopes turned out to be these beautiful pink flowered Gladiolus meridionalis. This … Continue reading
By mid-April the first good rains had fallen, the temperatures were dropping and the blackened landscapes were now rapidly becoming covered in fresh, young vegetation. The photo below shows the fast regrowth of the resprouting Olea capensis ssp. capensis as … Continue reading
It was once again fire time in the Overberg last week with a big burn in the Kogelberg and a flames licking on the edge of Gansbaai and Dekelders. The Gansbaai fire burnt in dense rooikrantz (Acacia cyclops) threatening the village … Continue reading
You can see from the photo above our post-fire landscape is still looking rather bare, but there are some traces of green appearing despite no rain having fallen. However on closer inspection a number of plants had already re-sprouted and … Continue reading
One of the fastest growing species after fire that I have come across is Asparagus rubicundus (wild asparagus, katdoring). The photo below was taken just one month after fire showing the amazing growth of this resprouting species. Not only had … Continue reading
In the fourth week following the fire Heiner took some great photos. The bright red flowers of Haemanthus and Brunsvigia were appearing all over the landscape. Many of these plants had been smothered by old, dense fynbos prior to the … Continue reading
