Fire in Your Eyes

When I started studying nature conservation never did I think I would be fighting fires, but three years later and it is one of the hot parts of my job ;) 

I attended my first Ecological burn which took place in the week. It was so exciting and scary at the same time. At 06:00 I got to the Reserve where the prescribed burn was to take place,  at 06:30 all the teams were briefed on the procedures and plans for the day and by 07:30 all the teams were positioned at their respective Sectors and the fire was started pass 08:00.

Morning briefing

Now to understand why we had the burn take place, you have to understand the fire regime of the vegetation type we have here in the Western Cape which is Fynbos. Fynbos has to have a fire spread across it, either controlled or wild, depending on what intensity it needs for the seeds to be germinated. So it is quite complex, however in fynbos there is Renosterveld which also needs to be burnt ever few years in order for new species to grow and to give the seeds collected space to germinate and grow in. 

I did not know what to expect, I did not know what was expected of me. I was nervous but so excited and I got to share it with all the other students that were there as well. I was placed in a team, with four guys, Rob, Daniel, Ismail and Masande, which I worked really well with. 

Daniel and myself 

Daniel leaving the vegetation once the fire came to our side

Our role was to watch over the fire and make sure that it stayed under control and that nothing goes wrong. We also wet the fences and the edge of the vegetation so once the fire gets to it it will run out of good enough fuel and will then die out. We waited for all the sections to burn and we were mainly in charge of controlling and putting the fire out once it got to our section of the vegetation.

The Vegetation after the fire

I must say, the intensity of that fire was so hot. When I had the hose and was spraying it into the flames, the heat of the fire was so hot and not something I have ever experienced. I learnt so much at that burn, and I enjoyed it a lot. The fires were ended at 14:00 however there was still flare ups and because of the uncertainty of whether a fire would start up again, there was people monitoring the after effects the entire evening and they had teams in place for everyday up until today positioned at the Reserve. Working on a fire is hard work, but with team effort and great spirit the benefits we get is well worth it :) but that goes for everything else as well.. 

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it

Xx Bubblesharkgirl

"To forgive does not mean that you condone, agree with, or give your approval to anyone or anything. Rather, it is a powerful acknowledgement to yourself that I am willing to let this go. I am willing to move forward in my life." ~ Raymond David Salas

New things

After an eventful last week, everyday seems to be getting better and better..

Last week I completed a Wetlands week display with the help of the other student (Megan) at my reserve, we went to the local library and put the display in their foyer. I saw a bird of prey on my way back to work, and went to collect my pass for the J&B Met which was happening the Saturday.. For that entire week I tried not to get too excited because I was going to attend the Met, but I just could not help it. I then also went to help out at Tablebay Nature Reserve on a reptile survey where we went to several boards that were placed around the reserve to see what reptiles we could find. It however was unsuccessful as we found no reptiles but that could be because these surveys need to be done in Spring time, which is September and October here, when the reptiles are most active.

The Met Pass and the Torti

Saturday, the 30th of January I help set up a display on the racecourse to create awareness about the conservation area that is situated in the middle of the racecourse, we had live snakes, a tortoise, insect collections, a grysbok that was taxidermy and fynbos plants. It was loads of fun spending the day with my friends and educating people about the reserve, but the Highlight of my day was definitely the HORSES. Oh my word, they are just so Majestic.

Julia showing a visitor the snakes

Fynbos display and Tortoise enclosure

Horses, wow. If I can explain how animals and the beauty of what nature makes me feel I would not be able to describe that in words. A goal I have is to do horse riding with my sister.

Race #6

Oh what beauties 

After the race

I also did patrols along the fence of the reserve to ensure people weren't littering, entering the reserve or damaging any property of the reserve. It was really cool seeing how eccentric the people dressed up to the event. 

The 31st of January I did my monthly volunteer shift at the Two Oceans Aquarium, attended a 5th birthday party and then watched The Heart of the Sea. All these years, me, miss nature conservationist did not know that whaling was not only to kill the whales for the meat but also to get the oil from them, neither did I know the story of Moby Dick..

I like this, I love learning new things because you never too old too learn.. :)

Thank you and check in for more posts! 

Xx Bubblesharkgirl 

"When something bad happens you have three choices.. You can let it define you, let it destroy you, or you can let it strengthen you."