Karoo sunset

On my visit to the Karoo last week, I got to experience an awesome Karoo sunset from one of the viewpoints at the Valley of Desolation. You can see why the Karoo is called "Big Sky Country". This is the original picture. No extra colour added. No enhancement. Just a brilliant Karoo sunset.For more pictures … Continue reading Karoo sunset →

Valley of Desolation

The Valley of Desolation is situated just outside the town of Graaff Reinet. It can be found in the Camdeboo National Park which provides the visitor with insights into the unique landscape and ecosystem of the Karoo, not to mention awesome scenic beauty. The Karoo was formed hundreds of millions of years ago and in … Continue reading Valley of Desolation →

Karoo churches

For today's "Random ..." theme I decided on Karoo Churches. Most of the small Karoo towns have magnificent old churches that are well know landmarks in these towns. The Dutch Reformed Church (Moederkerk) in Cradock. Built in 1868, the design is a near replica of St. Martins-in-the-Field in Londen. The Dutch Reformed Church (Grotekerk) in … Continue reading Karoo churches →

Karoo skies

Today's post is the conclusion of our drive through the Karoo (featured in Karoo Roads and Windpompe and Karoo Koppies ) from Gariep Dam (also see Gariep Dam Sunrise) to Cannon Rocks (posts still to come). And to link in with Skywatch Friday. As stated before, the Karoo is often referred to as Big Sky … Continue reading Karoo skies →

Windpompe and Karoo Koppies

Today's post basically follows up on yesterday's post about Karoo roads. The Karoo is generally a flat and dry area with a couple of hills and mountains. This means that driving through the Karoo there are very few features that are distictly "Karoo". The land in the Karoo is farming country with farmers farming mostly … Continue reading Windpompe and Karoo Koppies →

The Owl House

Very few people would have heard of the little dusty Karoo village of Nieu-Bethesda if it wasn't for The Owl House. Nieu-Bethesda is situated about 3 1/2 hours north of Port Elizabeth close to the town of Graaff Reinet. The house belonged to a woman named Helen Martins. Martins became bored with her "dull" life … Continue reading The Owl House →

Caves and Crocs

Today is the last day of our tour and we will make visits to the other two big tourist attractions in Oudtshoorn.Our first stop is the world famous Cango Caves. Situated about 20kilometres outside of town in the Swartberg (Black Mountains), the caves are the best known caves in South Africa and one of the … Continue reading Caves and Crocs →

Karoo Cactus

On our recent visit to Cradock we walked up Oukop, the hill outside the town. From the top there is a lovely view over the town. There is a wide variety of succulents and cactuses that grow in the area and this one I found very interesting.

Karoo cottages at moonlight

Ok, so its not the second installment of the Settler story yet, but that will still come. Last Thursday I took the step up from my compact digital camera and bought myself a new camera. Ok, so the budget does not allow for a professional camera with different lenses, but it did allow a Fujifilm … Continue reading Karoo cottages at moonlight →