The Not So Normal Life of an Expat Wife

By THE SWEDISH AFRICAN 05-07-15 21:51

Back in the day when I lived a relatively normal life, I ended up sat in one of those stiff, four-walled office interviews where the interviewer asked me — quite originally — where I saw myself in five years’ time. Bored by the question, I sat there rather straight-faced, stared out of the window and […]

Treasure Hunt

TRAVEL: The New South African Treasure Hunt

By Melanie Walker 05-07-15 13:41

Sometimes things come about because you’re tired of the fast pace of life, the continual “mission mission mission, get there quickly,” rush around…and then you come back from a holiday feeling like you need one. And dragging two fractious Pixies around while you do it is no fun. The Pixies are my daughters. Twins. So […]

UCT: Rhodes Must Fall‎

Removal of the Rhodes Statue. Reflection and Realisation

By SAPeople Contributor 29-04-21 19:55

As protests calling for the removal of the Cecil John Rhodes statue at the University of Cape Town (UCT) make headlines around the world, Capetonian Alastair During – who has walked past that statue many times as a UCT student – shares his reactions and realisations about  the protest. A Statue by Any Other Name…by Ali During When […]

Considering Life Abroad? Embrace the Uncertainty!

By Natasha Wright 13-09-15 14:57

I was fresh out of school with boots too big to handle and an attitude to match when I embarked on the fascinating journey of life in another country. Let me just say that I wanted in no way to find myself at 18 years of age living in the middle of the countryside! I […]

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KAROO DIARY: Showdown at Pella Cathedral

By Chris Marais 26-02-15 13:33

Some time ago, this nun and I were in deadlock over a daisy. Neither of us was giving any ground on this hot and bothersome day in Bushmanland. In the museum section of Pella Mission, Northern Cape, to be precise. “Just let me take the plastic cover off for one little minute,” I insisted. But […]

flippin' good wine club, cradock

Karoo Diary: The South African Spirit

By Chris Marais 12-02-15 12:52

Last night here in Cradock, a bunch of us gathered at someone’s house and formed a wine club. Sounds like small potatoes, right? Maybe, but in this world you take your pleasures where you can find them. And so, when the load-shedding kicked in and the lights went out, the candles were lit and the […]

A South African…On Becoming European

By THE SWEDISH AFRICAN 12-01-15 11:03

“Does Europe feel like home yet?” asked a good mate from South Africa. “I can’t say it does – just yet,” came my reply. Although it did get me wondering when Europe would feel like home. I’ve been here over two years. Would it be when I learn how to speak the language? (French when I’m […]

KAROO DIARY: A Cradock Walkabout

By Chris Marais 10-01-15 15:13

Let’s go for a walk around my home town, here on the edge of the Karoo Heartland, where the Great Fish River flows really fast and the local undertaker sells pumpkins on the side. HARRY POTTER & THE GRAVE STONE We’ll begin in the town cemetery at the gravestone of Harry Potter. Yes, you heard […]

What will I miss most and least about South Africa?

By SAPeople Contributor 09-01-15 10:00

A British couple from Penrith fell in love with South Africa during a visit from the UK last November (2013). Daniel Sencier and his wife Beverley loved SA so much they moved into a house in Northcliff, Johannesburg, and remained in the country as temporary residents and set up a UK-registered e-learning company called e-percetum. During their time in South […]

KAROO DIARY: Graaff-Reinet’s Drostdy Hotel Comes Alive!

By Chris Marais 27-02-15 19:46

The Drostdy has always been one of the select few grand old hotels of the Karoo. As the prime accommodation in Graaff-Reinet, it began its “hotel life” as Kromm’s Drostdy Hotel back in 1876. The Drostdy had many re-models and facelifts over the century to come, the latest being an intensive upgrade that has taken […]

"Joburg CBD: corrupt and complicated"

South Africa from the Outside In

By Amanda Stergianos 09-12-14 22:58

by The Swedish African Every South African, the world over, remembers where they were when Mandela passed away. One year on, I find myself overseas and sentimental (again) — disconnected from the umbilical cord of home and contemplating what’s really going on behind closed doors at the head-quarters of the rainbow nation. And let me […]

KAROO DIARY: Six Ways to Love Us

By Chris Marais 04-11-14 13:55

What? Six? Sheesh, I could give you six dozen reasons to climb in a car and come and kuier with us here in the Heartland. However, in honour of short-number listings, let’s look at a sixpack of motivations, beginning with that crazy-creative festival they stage out in the Tankwa Karoo every autumn: AfrikaBurn. www.afrikaburn.com At […]

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KAROO DIARY: Getting Smashed in Steytlerville

By Chris Marais 27-02-15 19:47

So this is a true Karoo Moment… Jules and I are sitting on the front stoep of the Karroo Theatrical Hotel. We’re spending the entire afternoon on this stoep, drinking much wine and shooting the breeze with the innovative hotel owners, Mark Hinds and Jacques Rabie. But lest you think we’re a bunch of old […]

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KAROO DIARY: The Farce of Fracking Consultations

By Julienne du Toit 20-10-14 15:42

Since early 2011, the ANC Government has been promising the people of the Karoo that they would be consulted before any decision to exploit shale gas in the region was taken. The then Minister of Mineral Resources, Susan Shabangu, vowed her people would speak to everyone in the Karoo. In September 2012, when the moratorium […]

KAROO DIARY: Those Magnificent Mother Churches

By Chris Marais 09-10-14 21:01

I’m a presently-lapsed Anglican boy who once attended a Dutch Reformed church service, somewhere in a dusky Mpumalanga coal town, just so I could sit next to a certain farmer’s daughter. I was almost charged with Attemped Kerfuffling! And I never saw that girl again. But now that I’ve begun my middle-aged meanderings through the vast […]

KAROO DIARY: New e-Books from Karoo Space!

By Chris Marais 01-10-14 18:11

This time of the year, you would usually not find Jules and me at home in Cradock. We would be tootling around somewhere on a back road in the vast Karoo. Namaqualanders just had a spectacular daisy season out in the west; summer is said to be on its way and is it shearing season […]

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KAROO DIARY: Show Time in Prince Albert!

By Julienne du Toit 17-09-14 14:54

Karoo towns are never the first choice for those seeking the bright lights. Prince Albert, though, is an exception. It’s worth waiting until dark to drive down the main road and wait until the magic moment just after dusk, when the neon outside the Showroom Theatre flickers to life, highlighting its distinctive Art Deco lines. […]

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KAROO DIARY: A Silly Sense of Snow

By Chris Marais 11-09-14 06:25

Looking out at the vast and sunny Karoo Heartland today, you’d never think that less than two weeks ago we were all snow-stormed in. Which takes me back exactly 33 years to the day, when I was sitting at a bar in Montana, USA, called The Cherokee Strip. The locals who drank at The Strip, […]

KAROO DIARY: Seeking Out Saskatchewan!

By Chris Marais 03-09-14 12:07

Last summer I had a thought and shared it with my wife Jules. “Jules,” I said. “Imagine a South African sitting up north somewhere like Saskatchewan. He’s working in Canada but he’s missing South Africa like crazy.” “Yes?” “Now imagine that guy’s been to the Karoo but his kids haven’t. And neither have his new […]

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KAROO DIARY: Snow Business

By Julienne du Toit 30-08-14 15:13

If you’re warm and you’re safe, it’s such a jol to be in the Karoo when it snows… This weekend the forecasters predicted a serious cold front and there was a ripple of expectation as soon as Snow Report posted their map of likely snowfalls. Everyone close to high-lying ground took note and precautions. This […]

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Rise of the Freelancers

By Chris Marais 27-02-15 19:47

Every day, I hear the cries of media people – journalists, graphic artists, photographers and copy editors – who have just been kicked out onto the street by their long-time employers. Many of them have given decades of faithful service – with little remuneration – to their newspapers and magazines. Most of us do this […]

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Ouma Rusks Legend – KAROO DIARY, South Africa

By Julienne du Toit 01-08-22 09:51

The fabulous South African rusk has been a staple of Karoo travel, going back to the 1700s. Here’s the story of SA’s famous Ouma Rusks… If you were an explorer, a hunter, a prospector, a trekboer or simply a wandering remittance man crossing the great Thirstland, you always carried a bag of rusks in your […]

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