Ubizane Ablaze

Fire season is upon us! During winter the grass dries out which makes it easier to catch alight in certain circumstances.  At Ubizane we try and prevent fires by creating fire breaks.  

The best way to kill a fire...is with fire itself!

On Wednesday 17 July, we decided to have a controlled fire to create a fire break.   With more than 10 men helping with the process, we were assured that the fire would be completely under our control and will not spread to the rest of Ubizane.  Fires are very unpredictable and could become out of control so easily that it took a lot of care and attention to ensure that we did not have a disastrous situation on our hands. 

The fire is started in a U- shape to ensure that there is always an escape route for any animals in the area.  This set our minds at ease as our foremost concern was for the well-being of our precious wildlife.  

Cane rats came running out of the fiery fields countless times.  These are enormous rodents are widely spread in Africa, South to the Sahara.  Their habitat is mostly the long grasslands of Savannahs and similar landscapes.  They have a mole-like appearance and can grow almost up to 10 kg in the wild!  Even though these strange rodents are found popularly in Africa, very few people from urban areas have seen these creatures. 

 Another animal that we saw during the burn was a Red Duiker escaping from the inflamed grass.  The Duiker was very confused at first and ran up and down the fence line trying to escape through our fence.  After a while when we realized the Duiker was a bit too confused to escape to the large open bush which was not burning, our general manager made his way towards the buck guiding him towards the open space.  After a while the Duiker found his way, with our help, to flame-less freedom.  After the incident we kept a close eye on any movements in the bush to ensure all animals find their way towards the escape route.  We were happy to report that no animals were found to be harmed!

Knowing that they were safe, our second concern was that the fire would spread to the lodge or to the community, putting other people’s lives in danger.  For this reason, the burning team had men at each point of the fire and men running from one point to the other ensuring that there were no runaway fires.  We were in good hands as the fire was completely under control and we safely burnt the areas along our fence line. The controlled burning took place near our western fence line, closest to the community.  This is the general area that is in the most danger for wildfire.  The fire was also in preparation for a larger controlled fire that we are planning for later this season.

 

Keep reading our blog to keep up to date about the latest Ubizane happenings!  We will be posting about the next controlled fire later this year so keep checking to stay informed!