AFTER THE FIRE

The fire that started on 4 March this year on the far side of the Dawidskraal River, swept across the commonage for the next three days. It left in its trail a desolate landscape. Amazingly, in less than two weeks, bright red clumps of April Fool (Haemanthus canaliculatus) could already be seen, flowering bravely amid the ash and blackened vegetation. This is an endemic plant, appearing only after fires in marshes between Rooi Els and Betty’s Bay. Arum lilies came next, followed by dense stands of light-green Bog Fern (Thelypteris confluens) and clumps of the camphor-scented white Swamp Daisy (Osmitopsis asteriscoides).

Previously, after a controlled fire several years ago, masses of orange-flowering watsonias were seen in October. Now this area is covered by a sea of tall yellow daisies (Senecio rigidus).