All pictures on this page have been taken after the great Overberg fire of February 2006 which burnt about 40´000 hectares from Elim to Stanford. Fire is essential for fynbos. Many fynbos species are dependant on fire for pro-creation. Without fire, fynbos as we know it would become extinct. The ash also brings essential minerals back to the soil. Only for a short while after a fire the landscape looks black and bleak. The first fire-lilies surface in the first weeks after a fire, then in the following months by countless other bulbs, resprouting shrubs and seedlings. In spring, the land is fully covered with vegetation and the plants start to compete for space.