When I was taking some night shots of Warsaw castle, these amazing fire walkers arrived and did a fantastic show, juggling and dancing with fire. So of course I had to shoot a few pics.
I’m really happy I had my SLR and tripod with me – I hope you enjoy the pics.
I don’t think this taxi is going to be going anywhere soon. I spotted it on the side of the M5, completely burned down. There is nothing flammable left inside the taxi. It also looks like everything salvageable has been removed – even the engine has gone!
I hope that nobody was harmed.
Earlier this year I posted photos of the fire that devastated our mountains. The good news is that the plants seem to be recovering well, and parts of the mountain have already been reopened.
The day the fire started I was meant to run over the mountains, so I ran this alternate route to Chapman’s Peak instead, little knowing that just a few hours later it would be on fire as well.
You still cannot run sections of this road (well at least you are not supposed to).\
I remember it howling with wind and being freezing cold, but I am glad it is coming right slowly.
The view to Hout Bay from Chapman’s Peak
At Chapman’s Peak
Silvermine West is once again after last year’s fire. So I could finally go running on one of my favourite trails – up the old wagon trail to the dam and back. The devastation from the fire is saddening – there is not a single part of the trail where you don’t see massive fire damage.
But the good news is the regeneration. It will take a long time to get back to how to it was, but regrowth is clearly happening.
Yesterday was the Cape Town cycle tour (formally the Argus cycle tour). Normally it is a 109km ride around beautiful Cape Town, but because of the recent fires they took the drastic (and very understandable) decision to shorten it to a 47km ride through Cape town (from the city bowl to the bottom of the M3 and back).
I normally watch the ride form the bottom of my road (I used to ride it myself but have stopped since I discovered running). But today I took a short run to watch the bicycles coming past.
The ride was in solidarity to all the firemen who have bravely spent the past week fighting the fires, so a lot of people were wearing red, and even dressing up as firemen.
Cycle Tour
Cyclist dreased as a fireman
Cape Town has been on fire since Sunday. Currently over 4000 ha of bush has been destroyed, and the fire is still not under control. To make it more difficult, yesterday was the hottest day in Cape Town for 100 years. At least today the cooler weather should help a little.
Last night we had another flare-up on Boyes Drive. Literally in the span of about 10 minutes the mountain went from dark to a flaming inferno. These pics were all taken yesterday afternoon and last night at and around my house.
Note the size of the fire truck in the first picture.
Boyes Drive flare up
Muizenberg Beach with a smokey haze above the sea
A fire chopper flies over my house
Boyes Drive flare up
Boyes Drive flare up
Boyes Drive flare up
Ok so sometimes you just have to go a little over the top with your processing…this is a photo of my car’s father from Poland.
As you can gather I am not big on Valentine’s day. I buy Lois flowers because I choose to, not because of commercial and social pressure (yeah boring I know). So yes I buy her flowers; just not on Feb 14th.
So when the Fro sent out a challenge to shoot a creative Valentine’s Day shot, I jumped right in. This picture gives a different perspective on Valentines day. I think that it works. What do you think?
ps: please don’t try this at home
We have mountain fires in Cape Town every summer. Usually they happen when it is hot and windy, and mostly they are started by cigarette butts being thrown out of car windows.
This year is no exception. On Saturday the mountain just above Boyes Drive was on fire, and the fire-crews were using two helicopters to dump water onto the fire. Because it was so close to my house and I live right next to the vlei, I watched the choppers collecting the water out of the lake before dumping it onto the fire.
It was pretty amazing watching the choppers, incredible skill in dropping down to grab the water, and then dumping it right on the hot-spots. This is in the cross-winds and flying through all the smoke. These are amazing pilots.
Thankfully, they managed to put this one out quite quickly, and there didn’t seem to be any major damage. We have had some pretty major fires in the past.
Here are the rest of the pics.
You need three things to create a huge veld fire:
This explains why Cape Town has a huge fire problem in the summer months. Many of them are caused by the whims of nature, but believe it or not, many are deliberately started. Often by arsonists, and sometimes even by children wanting the entertainment of the helicopters and firetrucks.
This is not the first time that I have photographed a fire in Cape Town, but the first one this year. This shot was taken at the intersection of the R300 and N2; both major roads in Cape Town. The wall in front of the flames is about 7 feed tall, so I guess the flames are over 15 feet.
(yes this was taken through my car window with my happy-snappy, so sorry about the resolution)
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