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In 1995 a one-year-old democratic South Africa won the Rugby Union World Cup. In that same year, Julie du Toit and Chris Marais met and fell in love.
They were both magazine editors (she: Keeping Track, a cutting-edge environmental magazine; he: Living Africa, an award-winning travel and lifestyle publication), working three centimeters apart in shared offices in Johannesburg.
By 1998 they were traveling the length and breadth of Southern Africa as freelance photo-journalists, looking for inspiring stories, positive developments and good dawn light for images. Four travel books were born in the process.
In that decade of road trips, the couple (now married) built up a huge network of friends and contacts throughout the region.
In 2007, South Africa won the Rugby World Cup again. In that same year, Julie and Chris went to live in the Karoo, their personal heartland. Of all the places they had seen, the Karoo – which covers nearly 40 percent of South Africa – captured their imagination most vividly.
Their journeys continue, through the 81 towns, four provinces and vast open prairies that make up the ancient Karoo.
This website is an invitation to come travelling. Meet the people they encounter, join the wandering couple on the stoep of their Karoo home every morning for a virtual cup of coffee and hit the road with them down a thousand dusty lanes every month…
Julie has started sharing the photographic work with Chris and, to her husband’s chagrin, is beginning to outshoot him. But he’s still streaks ahead of her in the “Huiskonsert Wine Drinking” stakes…
THEIR BOOKS
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A Drink of Dry Land – Journeys Through Namibia: In 2004, Chris and Julie jumped into their Isuzu pickup truck and drove 10 000 kilometres through magical Namibia. This armchair travel book chronicles their journey: the history, the eccentric encounters and the occasional grubby bit of road travel. It will place you firmly in the back seat of the truck and on the road to somewhere mystical. |
Namibia Space: A coffee table version of Dry Land, Namibia Space tells the same story in a lavish spread of photographs. Dry Land is the book you buy before you come to Namibia. Space is the book you buy as a collector’s item afterwards. |
Shorelines – A Journey Along The South African Coast: One year later, in 2005, they traveled along the entire 3 000 – plus kilometres of South Africa’s coastline from Alexander Bay in the west to Kosi Bay in the east. In ten weeks, Chris and Julie crammed more adventure and colour into their lives than all their two combined childhood beach holidays. Looking for eccentrics, environmental issues and fun, they penned this armchair travel book at the end of their trip. |
Coast to Coast – Life Along South Africa’s Shores: Again, a coffee table version of their first coastal book. Acclaimed by reviewers as “the best coastal travel book ever on South Africa”, Coast to Coast came out of the Struik publishing stable as a hardcover, exquisitely printed product and did the authors proud. |
101 Beloved Bars of Southern Africa: In a wonderful outburst of pure fun and offbeat travel, Chris and his long-time drinking buddy Pat Hopkins (the author of nearly 20 books) “drank southern Africa dry” and wrote a book about it all. Many overlanders of the male persuasion have begun using Beloved Bars as a travel guide. Some feel it should come with a health warning… |
(All books published by STRUIK SA)
Their latest book is Karoo Keepsakes - A Traveller's Companion to the Heartland of SA. Published by Main Line Media, Karoo Keepsakes is the result of four years of criss-crossing the vast Karoo in search of good stories and photographs. Visit KAROO TRADING POST for purchase details.
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