Category: Environment/Other

"Controlled" Burn

Nicholas Wright

Award winner

We whipped our land cruiser around a sharp bend in the road, deep in the Mozambican bush, and found ourselves in the midst of a controlled burn that park managers had forgot to inform us about. The driver stepped on the gas and I shot a few photos through the open window as wave of scorching air forced its way inside. A few seconds later and we were out of the burn, faces just slightly singed. Fires are an integral part of maintaining savanna ecosystems and controlled burns help prevent woody shrubs from encroaching into grasslands.