INFERNO

The wind swung around last Tuesday night and the fire which had burned for 2 days already in the pine plantations up in the Jonkershoek Valley advanced rapidly towards us on the top of the hill. By midnight we were surrounded by a raging fire, the thick smoke burned our eyes and made it difficult to breathe but fortunately, this time we had a lot of help from the firefighters who worked efficiently to keep the flames from reaching the house. The torching trees around the edge of the garden exploded in spectacular fireworks display sending sparks high up in the night as we watched the flames roaring up to the next ridge and beyond. It was a very long night but we saved the house and most of the garden. The Palmer family in the front lines of the action, never lost their sense of humor through this ordeal.