Karoo Rose

Two well known researchers recently made an interesting find in the Karoo.  Dr Johan Loock and Cobus Dreyer, from the University of the Free State, were conducting studies to evaluate the impact of a proposed extension electric power line on artefacts and the ecology in the area of farms such as Leeukloof, Bultfontein and Gansfontein,…

Golf was first played at St Andrews in Scotland over 600 years ago, so it is little wonder that this venue is steeped in wonderful stories. According to Sporting Life’s Golf News some of the sand traps have very individualistic names relating to ginger beer, spectacles and the best spot to catch a lassie.  One…

Arthur Charles Jackson converted to Christianity in Karoo sheep pasture. In his teens he had high hopes of becoming a farmer and went to help out on a Kuilspoort, a farm belonging to his father’s cousin, Julius Jackson.  While out in the veld one day Charles had an epiphany and gave himself to God “behind…

Prince Albert’s Piet Balelie, a colourful person. He is wellknown throughout the village for his bright and colourful clothing and unusual hats. He uses these as a means of communication. “Each hat in itself is a story. Each sums up Piet’s philosophy of life. He is illiterate, yet he has an enviable ability to use…

A road snakes through rocks which guard the history of the Karoo Once a swamp,  now a semi-desert, the Great Karoo fascinates almost all who visit. Many wish H G Wells’s time machine existed to take them back to explore the once vast Gondwana continent. Among the men who has the magic to  bring this…

When Robert Grey, Bishop of Cape Town, set off for the northernmost reaches of the Colony, he was captivated by the Karoo. “There was no time for reading in the wagon,” writes Thelma Gutsche in The Bishop’s Lady. “The arid desert-like Karoo with its abrupt rocky kopjes, occasional mirages and stunted bushes sparsely mixed with…

Just as droughts are a feature of the Karoo, so too are floods. some old black and white photographs recently reminded Dr Nathan Finkelstein of the devastating flood that hit Beaufort West 70 years ago on April 13, 1941. The pictures were taken by Max Weinberg, an attorney in the town at the time. His…

A young man who brought light and love to Beaufort West In 1883. He was a Mr Boye and in September, that year he “imported” an electric lamp and had it installed outside his shop.   Dolly dug about in her bag and unearthed one of her many newspaper cuttings this one from The Beaufort West…