The Great Karoo

The Great Karoo

By Leon Nell

I’m a great fan of Leon Nell’s work. I’m also totally jealous I didn’t think of writing this book – imagine the fun he and his wife-and-travelling-partner must have had doing all that research. Visiting all those wonderful dorps and farms, sampling the Karoo like very few people have ever done. Jealous, jealous, jealous! Ha ha!

Mr. Nell divides the Great Karoo into eleven distinct regions – and just reading their names (the Moordenaars Karoo, The Hantam Karoo, the Camdeboo) is enough to make me want to climb on a bicycle, saddle my horse or get out my wagon and start exploring. But as I can’t (even writers have to work), this book is a fine substitute – one that allows me to travel in my head.

And that’s just the point about this book – it’s not something you’re likely to take along if you’re travelling light. It’s kind of a fireside chat that you’ll want to dip into rather than read from cover to cover: something between a story-teller and a coffee-table book (but much more useful than thE latter). It’ll enjoy a place of honour besides my copy of Mr. Nell’s “The Garden Route and Little Karoo: Between the desert to the deep blue sea.”

Definitely a book for every guest house library – and it would make a great gift, too.

Buy it here.