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items such as kudu horns, cotton
reels, brown hands clasping black
and white hands, shields, spears,
sheep, goats, Karoo windmills and
other items reflecting Steytlerville’s
two centuries of history, including a
crest depicting a local store owner’s
heritage – a symbolic shopping trolley.

Local farmer, Rikus Bezuidenhout, upset
by the neglect of the bougainvillea
shrubs along the island, mounted a
water tank on his bakkie, collected
grey water from the town’s sewage
plant and resuscitated the shrubs. He
has kept them watered ever since.

Helein van Tonder, who teaches at
the local farm school, started an Julienne du Toit and Chris Marais
omgee groep (care group) to keep
the town’s streets and parks clean.
This is not just a weekly task – they They write separate chapters giving There’s a fascinating chapter on
remove litter whenever they see it. their personal impressions, yet they springbok and the drama of their
frequently refer to the other, so the mysterious 19th century mass
Residents along the main road reader picks up their mutual enjoyment migrations when they behaved
have spruced up their modest and their boundless enthusiasm for like lemmings mindlessly passing
Karoo-style houses and gardens. what their publishers call ‘Faraway though farms in countless numbers
South Africa’. Faraway? The Karoo, carrying livestock and even other
The great width of the main road currently a floral wonderland after antelope helplessly along in their
speaks of the days when ox wagons, unusual summer rains, probably midst and often to their deaths
drawn by spans of up to 16 oxen, takes up half of South Africa. in the thirstlands to the west. The
had to be able to do U-turns. chapter on the introduction of
One of the chapters in this latest merino sheep is equally fascinating.
The town’s story is delightfully told in Karoo Roads book takes us deep
Karoo Roads II. Co-author, Julienne du underground along the 83km Orange/ I found the book a sheer joy to read.
Toit began her career as a Johannesburg Fish River tunnel – a brilliant piece of
journalist and Chris Marais, her civil engineering which sends 22 tons (The book is available in some
husband, is one of South Africa’s of water per second from the Gariep book shops but if you would like a
foremost photojournalists. The couple, Dam to the Eastern Cape, but which signed, first edition copy, send an
who live in Cradock, have had eight shuts off the supply for a month a email to julie@karoospace.co.za for
books published stemming from their year when the public can explore it. the details. The cost for Waterfall
probing journeys across South Africa. That is something I must also see. residents is R340, including delivery.)

Springbok grazing in the veld

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