While in South Africa, I took quite a few landscape photos with the intent to make a series of black and white images. While muddling through them (slowly, considering the trip was January last year!), I found a particular event that made for a compelling set by itself – Fire in the Fynbos. What a nice, alliterative title.

Driving out from Ceres through Mitchell’s Pass, we encountered a controlled burn of the fynbos on the mountainsides. We’d seen the smoke rising in to the sky earlier in the morning from our accommodation at Fairfield Mountain Cottages in Ceres, where Dad got some nice photographs of Klipspringers!

Fynbos is the natural shrubland that occurs in the Western Cape, and has a huge amount of biodiversity and endemism. It is part of the Cape Floral Kingdom – the smallest and richest in the world. Fire has an important role to play in the ecosystem, burning off old growth and making room for new plants to develop. It can be quite alarming to see vast swathes of bush burning though!

All images processed with Google’s Nik Collection Silver Efex Pro 2 – it’s my favourite tool for converting colour to monochrome.

It was quite an experience, driving through billowy red haze. The light from the sun was filtering through the smoke and went quite brassy, very surreal. There was a troupe of Baboons wandering along the road as we drove past, babies clinging to their mothers and youngsters dodging the traffic.

All of these images were taken with my D300 and 18-200mm lens – I use it the most when I’m travelling, and while it’s not stunningly sharp, it’s light and versatile. It’s my go-to lens if I’m travelling light – I might write a post about my usual travel kit some time soon. What’s your favourite lens for travelling?