Fogo! Rejuvenated! Three Months Later

On October 28th, three months after the BIG FIRE I went up the mountain on the north of Águas da Prata. It is where the Caminho da Fe goes toward Tambaú. I looked back over Águas da Prata to the mountain where the fire had been.

Look at the top of the mountain on the east side of the valley. I saw how green the mountain top had become so I decided to go up the Caminho da Fe towards Andradas to see how much had recovered from the fire.




As I climbed the mountain via the Caminho da Fe I came to the first amazing sight. This photo was taken two weeks after the BIG FIRE! Notice the undergrowth was burned away. Look at the palm tree, roasted.




Now look at the same scene three months after the BIG FIRE! The same palm tree has some regrowth. But look at the grasses in the foreground. They are almost three meters tall. What an amzing recovery. Three meters in three months. Of course it is spring time and there have been a couple heavy rains too but I found it hard to believe it grew so fast.




Look at this! A few meters further up the mountain there are mangoes growing right in the pathway where the fire had seemed to have destroyed everything.




The mountain looks beautiful again.




Amid the fresh growth you see a huge anthill. I wonder if the ants survived.




It was hard to believe how much had regrown already.




An amazing example of Nature's regrowth. This photo was taken two weeks after the BIG FIRE.




Three months after the BIG FIRE I took this photo in almost the same place as the one above.




The mountain is getting green again.




You can still see signs of the fire amid the new growth.




Lots of fresh underbrush.




Fresh green was seen everywhere I looked.




Lots of fresh new growth here!




Look at the huge anthill! One of many on the mountain side.




Three months after the fire it looks like there was no fire here.




Most of the undersbrush is gone here but new grasses came back.




Two weeks after the fire look at the devastation here.




Compare the above photo with almost full recovery here three months after the fire.




Recovery has been slow in this location though.




This part of the trail has completely recovered.




Look up the trail and see all the fresh growth.




The mountain side is now green where it was completely burned befiore.




Looking back down the trail you can see lots of new growth, especially on the trail itself.




Remember this tree two weeks after the fire?




The tree didn't die. It is growing just fine thank you. Look at the new leaves.




Lush fresh growth along the ridge.




This tree had burnt to its top. Now there are mangoes growing on it again.




Look at this . . . 2 weeks after the fire.




Now look at the same place three months later! WOW!




Nearby the same place.




See how this area is starting to grow back again.




The freshly painted yellow arrow shows the way for the Caminho da Fe!




Here is an amazing sight! I was walking up the mountain and heard a roar behind me. I turned to see two fellows on motos practicing for the moto-cross to be held the next week. We saw the bikes the next week but down by the Thermos. There were over 50 of them. Here the one fellow waits for the other to clear the rocky area up top. Look close to see him.




Looking back down where we came from.




Look at this very large anthill. It was burned of course. It now makes a great place for snakes to live.




This unused building was, like so many other things up here, completely gutted. But being made of stone, blocks and concrete there was no real damage.




This is the Thermos from the mountain. That is the monkey forest behind the Thermos. See our BLOG Sabados http://aguasdaprata.blogspot.com for more details on the Thermos and the monkies. That road in the background goes up that mountain to a very large coffee plantation.




The view back to that building we passed. Everything here was burnt, except the fence posts. They are made of concrete.




Look around at the grand scenery and lush grass!




I next go up to the peak of the mountain and the question is, "How badly was the park damaged?" Let's go see!




Looking back down from the crest of the hill.




Just over the rise is a lovely park-like setting.




This old building is leftover from when there was a park up here. It was completely engulfed in flames durng the two days the fires raged across the mountaintop. But it is made of brick and stone so it is left intact.




This is the view back the way we came up, looking across the valley into the coffee plantation. This was one of the most severly burned places on top of the mountain.




Look how lush and green the new grasses are here.




It is unbelievable how green everything is up here. I had never been here before and I see that is a very beautiful place, fully regrown.




This is as far as I went. It was getting dark and about to rain. So I went down the mountain via the other route.




I took one last look about. Here you can see the highway to Poços de Caldas. The fire stopped just a little further on by the Ostrich Farm. All this area was all burnt off completely.




I returned by the other route to see how the cactus fared. Remember that baked cactus? Here is what it looked like two weeks after the fire.




Now look how it recovered!!!




See the best sign of recovery! These lovely wildflowers are growing in an area where all the underbrush and grasses were completely destroyed. Mother Nature knows best. She recovers every Spring.



Photos by Urso Branco