From fynbos to forest in 76 years - 12:11 pm

07 May 2009

So, the weather forecast can be right. We ignored a grey and grumbling mountain and headed off to Oranjekloof – an area where you can see what happens when fire is excluded from this system.

Except we couldn’t see a great deal. It was drizzling and the clouds came ever lower so eventually we had to retreat for a few hours. Sakhile sat on my hat but was unrepentant.

After three hours of waiting, things lightened a little and we risked heading back out – half expecting to get rained on at any minute. The clouds were still very present. And then…in a matter of moments it cleared. We could see the whole of Oranjekloof ahead of us.

Most of this area used to be pure fynbos. Forest would have been in the mountain gorges where fire doesn’t go. But since 1933, fire has been kept out of this valley entirely and it is quite rapidly reverting to forest.


The rain had collected in numerous cobwebs around us and showed no sign of evaporating. I guess spiders don’t generally go thirsty.

A large portion of the outskirts of Orangekloof was previously a pine plantation. Those trees are long gone and fynbos is coming back into this area along with a lot of grass.

It’s very healthy looking though – plenty of different species including the reed-like restios, plenty of proteas and even ericas in flower. These will be among the first species to disappear as they’ll be shaded out by the larger species and the forest species which are expanding outwards.


Even the bird species are changing. This neddicky is something of a generalist but many forest species will utilise only forest and many fynbos species rely totally on fynbos for food. When an ecosystem switches over it’s quite a thing. More things are linked than you’d ever initially imagine.

We sat and listened to the birds in the forest while the sun dipped below the mountains, briefly illuminating trees and then leaving them – and us - in a rapidly cooling gloom.

We left with an understanding that fire is essential in the world of fynbos. Thousands of species depend on it for seed dispersal as well as germination. It is not the destructive force it is seen to be. However, it is true that regeneration time between fires is essential. As usual, a balance must be maintained.

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