I took a lot of drive-by shots on our nearly 3000km road trip. One of these was of small bushfires which kind of worried me at first until I learned that in the Kakadu, park rangers and Traditional Owners work together using cultural burning practices to protect land and Country.
Kakadu’s Traditional Owners, the Bininj/Munguy, have used fire for generations as a management tool for practical and cultural reasons.
After the wet season, from around April through to July, as the Country starts to dry out and the weather becomes cooler, Bininj/Mungguy begin to light fires in strategic areas. Small, cool and patchy grass fires are lit across the Kakadu landscape. It was quite an eerie feeling driving through these smokey parts
A great shot of the controlled burn. I guess the idea is perhaps to burn off the 'close to the surface carbon' so that there's less risk of uncontrolled burn in the hot season.
I'm so very tired and saddened by so many horrible fires the last 5-10 years. Even the control burns make me anxious! ...They do make for interesting photos, however. Nice capture!
