Assessing the Fire Damage in the Cape for Ourselves

We couldn't drive down the Cape Peninsula when my sister visited South Africa in February. There was a fire raging across the top of the peninsula right below Cape Town. It ravaged Table Mountain National Park from Muizenberg on the east coast all the way to Hout Bay on the west coast. There was even an unrelated fire that broke out at the Cape of Good Hope closing the most southwestern point in Africa to visitors for several days. (Don't worry. My sister and I went to the most southern point in Africa instead, Agulhas National Park.)

Luckily, everything was open for business in time for my niece Jill's visit in June.

the penguin sanctuary at Boulders was okay

the Cape Point lighthouse was okay too

the fire didn't stop Groot Constantia from celebrating 330 years of continuous production in February!

Bonnie & Clyde were safely settled in the Cape Point Ostrich Farm

Chapmans Peak and Hout Bay were still dazzling!

and the calamari at the Chapmans Peak Hotel was still delicious!

Chapman's Peak Drive

But there was still evidence of fire damage everywhere you looked.

blackened fynbos

However Nature was rebounding everywhere too. Let's all celebrate!