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Jonathan Deal, chairman of the Treasure the Karoo Action Group which is fighting to prevent Shell from fracking in the Karoo, has written a wonderful book that clearly shows what will be lost if fracking is allowed to go ahead. Picture: Courtney Africa
TIMELESS KAROO
JONATHAN DEAL
STRUIK
Jonathan Deal, chairman of the Treasure the Karoo Action Group, which is fighting to prevent Shell from fracking in the Karoo, has written a wonderful book that clearly shows what will be lost if fracking is allowed to go ahead.
The book covers the five different parts of the Karoo – the central, northern and upper Karoo, the Great Karoo, the Hantam Karoo, the Tankwa Karoo and the Klein Karoo; there is not a remote corner or town that is not visited. Together with detailed maps and strip routes, it is possible to plan a visit or holiday to this quiet region where life is so much more leisurely.
Most South Africans experience the Karoo only while driving through it on the N1 – praying that their car isn’t totalled by a half-asleep truck driver on the notorious “death stretch” between Touws River and Beaufort West. If they stop at all it is usually to fill up with fuel or to wolf down a takeaway in the middle of the freezing night.
But Deal encourages us to take a more leisurely journey and to discover for ourselves the hidden treasures of the Karoo’s many towns. He delves into the history of all these places and meets the most interesting people, most of whom seem passionate about where they have chosen to live.
The many excellent photographs give you a good idea of the timeless spaces, the endless skies and the long history of settlement. We are told about such diverse happenings as the transit of Venus in 1882 and the great flood of 1981. We meet Prince Albert’s Helena Marincowitz and Hekkie Moos, Britstown’s Adlene Potgieter, the famous Outa Lappies, Aberdeen’s Danny van der Linde, Amalienstein’s Hendrik Januarie and the itinerant nomads still travelling the back roads with their donkey carts.
We also find out how the Moordenaarskaroo got its name and how Gustav Nefdt became the first man known to have climbed Ladismith’s Towerkop. We visit some of the last remaining Anglo-Boer War blockhouses, the Blikkies Bar in Carnarvon, the Owl House in Nieu Bethesda, and we hear the story of the execution of John Baxter from Gina de Beer in Aberdeen.
At the end of each chapter there is a section on the highlights of the towns featured, and it is ideal for planning your holiday, as is the section on accommodation and tourism associations’ contact details.
There are few better ways to truly get to know the Karoo than by meeting and staying with the people who have been there for generations. You get the sense of place, of the food, the down-to-earth humour, the long history and the expectations of the future. Deal has produced a magnificent book that makes all these things clear and palpable, and it is with horror and disbelief that one now looks at the fracking saga.
You have to ask whether these people are crazy, or so hungry for riches that they would destroy all this for short-term gain. – Cape Argus
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Article source: http://www.iol.co.za/scitech/science/environment/why-destroy-karoo-riches-for-short-term-gains-1.1246728