"Evoking tombstones on a charred battlefield, termite mounds are in fact pillars of life in the ecology of the peninsula. No earthworms live in this seasonally arid region, so termites assume the vital role of enriching the soil by recycling dead wood and grass. Likewise, dry-season fires release nutrients, sparking a conflagration of green when rains return. 'It's magic when it rains,' says a cattleman. 'You can almost hear the grass growing.'"
—From "The Uneasy Magic of Australia's Cape York Peninsula," June 1996,
National Geographic magazine
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