Grootbos Fynbos Shows Its Resilience After the Fires

Almost a year ago, Grootbos had just survived the first fire in what turned out to be a season defined by summer fires in the region. This photograph taken this week on 29 October 2026 allows us to compare what the same site looked like on 15 December 2025. The resilience and regenerative capacity of the landscape is astonishing to us and it inspires hope. It also opens a window onto the vastness of time and how it stretches backwards and forwards from this moment. What we do with the knowledge that we can only change our behaviour in this present moment is our shared challenge.

Our conservation team has been riding high and relishing the opportunity of finding new post-fire plant species in the region in this first year after the fires. Here follows some of their highlights from gambolling in the fynbos...This orchid is Evotella rubiginosa which carries a beautiful, sweet scent.

This is Disa atricapilla, charming and dramatic by its common name black-haired orchid. We have been waiting to see this drama queen.

This is Cerantandra bicolor which is now in full bloom in marshland areas and stream edges. This is the first recording of this orchid species in this area which means that it's distribution map will now be expanded.

This is Pachites bodkinii, another post fire species that chooses marshlands and stream edges.

This is Corycium bifidum, a critically endangered orchid species that grows after fire.