The last three weeks have been particularly dry and the reserve has had to deal with its fair share of wild fires. This morning a team from the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency and the reserve mobilised to deal with a wild fire from the weekend. Having accomplished their goal quite early in the morning, they used the opportunity to burn some fire breaks.
Time for a quick photo after a job well done
Fire breaks and ecological burns form part of the ecological management of the reserve. While fire breaks serve to curb fires, ecological burns assist with veld regeneration. Regular burning of grassland is part of its natural cycle that has to be maintained. Grassland which does not burn becomes moribund, adding to a high fuel load and hot fires which in turn can affect the species composition.
