Tonight the hill in font of us is on fire, but this is normal for this tie of the year as this is a controlled fire. I know over the next few days rain is expected and why the controlled burn happens now. The fire helps rejuvenate the soil adding the nutrients required for new life to flourish. Within a few days there will be grass shoots popping out all over and with the addition of the expected rains this will be a carpet of green within the next month.
Summer time is the rainy season on the highveld and one can expect thunder and lightning storms in the late afternoons which are a fascinating watch for their ferocity and are over very quickly. Flash floods do occur due to the intensity of the down pours and you avoid certain parts that are known to flood even tough it is fairly rare. A friend of mine had to swim from his car a few years back and he got lucky. The first year I was in Johannesburg I saw the storm water drain covers having been lifted up due to the force of the water flowing through the run off drainage under ground.
The fires are also started now due to the winds that are expected next month prior to the rainy season. I know we don't really have 4 seasons like you do in other parts of the world, but you can tell via certain signals we have entered spring. Yes the leaves fall of the trees, but you would not really know it is winter when the day time temperature is still 25-30 degrees. The temperature drops over night but a 5-8 degrees temp is not what we would really consider cold in comparison to a European winter.
At night time I can now hear the frogs croaking and the river is literally over 2 kilometers away so they are loud. The croaking noise I noticed last week and you just cannot miss it as it is constant and full on. The controlled fires are also another indicator along with the sunsets happening much later. Darkness normally sets in at around 5.30pm and we are already back out at around 6.30 pm now which will eventually be around 7.30 pm later in summer.
We hardly have any wildfires in our region as today's burn will clear out any tinder that has been dried out over the last year. The wild life that does exist on these hills may or may not escape this, but I am sure the majority. The only wild life that I know exists up here are deer and snakes. Wherever you find snakes you will also find a mongoose as snakes form part of their menu.
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The rock Dassie is also found living in this habitat, but lives lower down the hills and can be found in the residential suburbs. I would guess their biggest predator would be birds of prey, snakes and avoiding cars whilst crossing the roads.
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