Monday, October 25, 2010

Of Country Roads, Bushfires and Tortoises

Travelling along a country road over the weekend we noticed that there were a lot of tortoises on the move. Every year it seems that right after the bush fires comes the first rain,followed by juicy new grass shoots. I am sure that is what had the tortoises going along everywhere!





Are you sure you made an appointment with the owner of this property??




How on earth did they survive the fires,everywhere I looked the earth was scorched. This one had no visible burns on it at all!

Leila's first encounter with a tortoise!




Even this tiny little one survived the fires, yay! I wonder if it is a baby or a tiny species. Look at the wonderful patterns on it!



Country roads..... Notice the vast burnt areas of bush, how do these tortoises survive? Surely they cannot outrun fires of this magnitude.

9 comments:

  1. Oh Amazing!!! Shells must be fireproof???
    These are wonderful creatures- just beautiful!!

    I CANNOT believe you have never seen snow. I want you to come here for a visit!!!!
    (We could have a snowball fight and make snow angels!!!!)
    :))

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  2. Do they burrow underground to avoid the fires? I can't think of any other way they could do it.

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  3. If it's so dry as to allow bush fires, I can't imagine they have any mud to get into, so just dry dust to protect them? Wow! I can't imagine the heat they must endure, even if their shells are fireproof... Poor little guys.

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  4. Hi there, thanks for your visit. I have enjoyed looking through your blog. Your 2 girls sure are beauties. What an interesting life you lead there. Some of the scenes of the land look like here in Utah. We live surrounded by red rock and on one side it's desert and on the other mountains and pines. This earth is such a beautiful place isn't it?! Come say hi any time :D

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  5. WOW! That's incredible! Must have been quite the fire. Great picture of tortoise and dog!
    Jim

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  6. A yea...make sure to have a visible sign on board..to cross into that land!
    Love the new header...very relaxing. I often ride with one hand..it unlocks my upper body!

    That long gravel road...oh, it reminds me of going to the Serengeti..the LONGEST RAOD ever, I thought! And rewarding too.
    KK

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  7. Nice pictures Liesl. I like the one of the tortoise and the dog.

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  8. Hi allhorsestuff
    In the picture my husband is riding in a "Leon Liversage" endurance saddle made by a very well known local guy whose saddles sells overseas as well and I am riding in a Wintec 2000. I love Wintec saddles,it's a schlepp getting someone out to come and fit a saddle, we have to travel four and a half hours to the city for decent service!
    xoxo

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Hi,thank you for stopping by "A Little African Magic" and joining my adventures in South Africa. I do enjoy and appreciate to hear from each and every one of you!