Two million bees relocated as fires ravage southern Cape

An estimated two million bees and their hives were relocated as a raging wildfire destroyed vegetation where they usually forage for food in the southern Cape.

Disaster relief organisation Gift of the Givers assembled a team of bee experts to rescue the creatures while another team of volunteers supplied food‚ water and hygiene packs to residents displaced by the fires.

The bee team were thanked for doing “an incredible job extracting and relocating hives in the face of many‚ many stings‚ from very anxious bees”‚ in an update on the fires posted on the Gift of the Givers Facebook page on Wednesday.

“Hives were extracted from the Botanical Gardens and Nelson Mandela University in George on October 29 and various sites in the Knysna corridor on October 30. In total 28 beehives were relocated to the Gift of the Givers Bee Rehabilitation Centre in Knysna‚ rescuing just around two million bees.

“Owen and his team were unbelievable in NMU‚ the fire was rapidly approaching their feet but they stood their ground and rescued 10 bee colonies (that's 700 000 bees). The bee team travelled 600km for 39 hours and have identified another 100 beehives that will require relocation due to the absence of forage in the 88‚000 hectares of burnt vegetation.”

Volunteers also handed out aid to 1‚000 people affected by the fires in Hornlee‚ Brenton‚ Rheenendal‚ Buffels Bay‚ Karatara‚ Sedgefield‚ Ebb and Flow and Bergplaas. Stationery packs were handed over to children and trauma counselling was offered to families who had lost loved ones and homes.