Flowers after Fire: A FYNBOS WALK

In January of this year the Cape Peninsula experienced some terrible fires. The natural vegetation (fynbos) is a fire driven vegetation type, but still, fires that are too intense or too frequent are not good for the system. On top of this, we've had the worst drought in decades and very poor rainfall. I decided to take a walk this morning through some of the fire ravaged sections to see what might be flowering even in these tough conditions.

I took a walk on the Roodeplaat section of Table Mountain National Park. The first part of the walk was in the unburnt section so this is what the area SHOULD look like.

The pincushion proteas in this unburnt section are just starting to flower.

From a distance the burnt area looks pretty desolate, although green shoots are appearing.

When you get closer, however, there are quite a few flowers popping up. Here is the delicate Babiana nana, one of the spring flowering bulbs.

I also found quite a few Ratstails, or Babiana ringens. You can see the upright appendage that looks just like a rat's tail, but is a specially designed perch to help birds visit the flowers and aid in pollination.

Further on, some beautiful Nemesias were flowering.

Then, around the corner, a glorious group of Moraea achroleuca - a species that only flowers after fire.

I even found some gorgeous Metallic Longhorn Beetles on them and decided to use these pics to enter Papa-pepper's competition: https://steemit.com/contest/@papa-pepper/a-combination-photography-contest-from-papa-pepper

I was disappointed that the sundews aren't flowering yet. I shall have to come back to capture those. Here's a pic of the plant itself though, still pretty. This is an insectivorous plant that captures insects in the 'dew' on its leaves.

Onyx the dog gazes into the distance. Behind her you can see the burnt out protea bushes. Hopefully new little bushes are sprouting again.