KAROO HOME-GROWN
Karoo Keepsakes is a thoughtful gift, a traveller’s companion and a dedication to the people and the places that make up the dry Heartland of South Africa.
Written and photographed by long-time Karoo journalists Chris Marais and Julienne du Toit, Karoo Keepsakes is a collection of words and images that give you an insider’s view of what’s to be found under the seemingly flat vastness of the Karoo.
If you hate the story of pre-Man, pre-Dinosaur and the various extinctions that turned the sky black and froze the tracks of countless animals in clay forever, the Karoo is not your place.
If you can’t stand the sight of wide-angle landscapes, quirky little cantina-like padstalle at roadside, flashes of springbok rushing across the plains, the pure peace of waking up on a midwinter’s morning on a Karoo farm, the call of the super jackal at sunset and the lunchtime laughter of the great story-tellers of the Eastern Cape Midlands, then simply pass on by.
But we believe there’s a Karoo in the heart of everyone, so chances are you’ll be up for the adventure.
In this book, you’ll hear about the outpost stockmen of the Richtersveld, the dassie–eagle wars, Victorian architecture, the outsider artists, the crazy adventurers of the 18th century, the rituals of the huiskonsert, the Nama Stap, the Scottish stockbroker who loves the company of farmers, ghosts, UFOs, all manner of eccentrics, festivals, earthworms, folded mountains, country divas and lost valleys.
NB: If you are ordering one of our print books from outside South Africa, please contact us before paying. We will then work out your particular courier price and send you a quotation.
2 reviews for Karoo Keepsakes I
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Janet Tanner-Tremaine –
The people of the Karoo are the salt of the earth and are beautifully portrayed and documented for us by the authors Chris Marais and Julienne du Toit.
The photography is wonderfully evocative of that part of the world. I shall treasure my books and love to delve into them to remind me that next time we are able to travel to South Africa we need to spend more time in the Karoo, and urge you to do the same.
Ronald Ingle –
I’m taking the unusual step, for me anyway, of addressing the authors of a book I appreciate so much.
I have lived in South Africa since 1958. I’ve driven and camped Southern Africa much more, it seems, than many South Africans. As a young man I used to hike the Highlands of Scotland, so agree with Le Sueur (p28) whose favourites are the Karoo and north Scotland.
Now that I am 89 your book is a valuable trip down my memory lane – just the job for an oldie who has seen so much of what you record. But the amount and quality of your photographs and your page by page evocative, sensitively written commentaries, have made this little hardback a wonderful read for me.
My copy , a few years back now, is signed by Julie, thankyou. It’s been waiting for this my re-read in the real time I now have for ‘slow reading’.
I thought that, by adding best wishes for Christmas and a Good Year ahead, it would be ok to convey my admiration of what you have given so many of us – and what is my personal treasure.
Ronald Ingle
Hillcrest, KZN