Ashes & mist

And the regrowth continues; apart from the most obvious watsonias and other bulbs coming up everywhere, fire lilies are carpeting the slopes above the Silvermine Dam and bushes are budding at their bases. From below it appeared that there was just a cloud on the mountain, but once inside it was decidedly wet, so it's no wonder that the regrowth is happening so quickly - the fire came at the best time, with gentle moisture allowing the plants to cover and stabilise the ground a bit before the heavier winter rains come.
Captions are on the photographs, which speak for themselves...

PS. The park remains closed to give the animals one less worry while foraging for food since cover is so scarce (although I think the raptors are getting enough to eat!), but I've been fortunate to gain access to the park, this time on a clean-up walk with the Friends of Silvermine Nature Area - mostly bottles and tins chucked into the ex-bushes as the plastic and paper obviously burned up, but I've come across fresh plastic bottles in some areas above Kalk Bay, and it really saddens me that people have a desire to go into pristine nature, and then leave it in a mess.