Licked by Fire

Finally, the fire arrived at the guest accommodation - the first time in my 35 years of going there.

The fire on the north side of the river swept through Jassie campsite, where my old caravan stands. Fortunately I had evacuated the caravan with about 3 minutes to spare. But one of the lovely old oak trees on the site was destroyed. Rietgat (formerly, the Landsdiens Kamp) was rescued, I assume, by the helicopters. 

After Jassie, the fire moved on to the main camp site. Site 1 was gutted and part of the adjoining site. Thankfully, the rest of the campsite was okay and the fire returned to the course of the river, causing extensive damage to the riverine vegetation.

 Meantime, the fire also continued above the main campsite, threatening accommodation units Ons Huisie (cultural history treasure), Groothuis, Die Stal and Waenhuis. These buildings were all saved, thanks to fire saving interventions, significantly Ons Huisie, which has a thatch roof. However, the vegetation above was cleaned out.

On the southern bank of the river, the fire crossed the river a few times and arrived at the 5 accommodation units called the Planets. Both Mars and Venus were near misses, saved only by water bombing by helicopters of Working on Fire and also the intervention of farm workers who harnessed whatever water tenders they could with hand pumps to fight the flames. But the fire rages down the river and destroyed the beloved Lapa campsite, which was fully occupied.

Fire burning along the bank of the river in front of cottage Pluto in direction the Lapa.

A few campers lost their equipment.

Significantly, most of the tall trees, including ancient stone pines, withstood the fire. It was the brush wood and fynbos that had burned, close to the ground and along the river.

The staff were fantastic and within an hour were on site to help campers and guests with recovery and the clean up. 

A number of people headed up the the main farm at Dwarsrivier, where the winery staff kept everybody happy in the way they knew best.

The Nieuwoudt family were fantastic and most guests returned to their accommodation or campsite for the night.

Dwarsrivier staff fight the fire with a small water tender next to cottage Mars.