Driving over Red Hill from Simon's Town this afternoon, I had a magnificent view of the panorama before me - mirror-smooth False Bay stretching over to the Hottentots Holland range with the beachfront flats of the Strand standing sentry on the other side, a pale blue sky with scattered clouds, the jagged outline of the mountain chain running up the Peninsula to Table Mountain in the far distance. But for almost the entire distance from the top of Red Hill through Scarborough, Misty Cliffs and the road above Slangkop lighthouse into Kommetjie, the mountains were bare and blackened, not a plant surviving the recent fires that ravaged the area. Not long ago, the drive was a delight to the eye, with an abundance of proteas and pincushions covering the mountains in thick groves, and smaller yet no less important fynbos of the Cape floral kingdom, one of the richest and most diverse in the world.
This has all been destroyed by the hand of man, and it remains to be seen whether nature will bounce back after such devastation. It is a fact that many of the species only renew themselves after a wildfire, but if the fires are too frequent, the balance is thrown out and it could be that the cycle cannot be completed. Time will tell.
A heavy swell is passing the Cape today and the waves were breaking far, far out to sea. The surface was a churning, roiling mass of spume and Misty Cliffs was enveloped in the very stuff for which it is named. Barely a house was visible!
I was giving a young Malawian man a ride back to Kommetjie in the course of his work and he said this was only the second time he had ever driven this way and was so happy to see the beauty around him. He had the biggest smile and it was so gratifying that my decision to drive back that way, specifically to show him the view, was so appreciated. Sometimes it is so easy to bring a little enjoyment into life.
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