Rose Willis, pictures above, doyenne storyteller of the Karoo, is blogging for us, and of course for you. Rose is well known for her regular Rosies Round-Up newlsetter which was printed and posted in the old-fashioned way to many thousands of avid readers overs the years. Anecdotes, tales, legends, heroes and villians all formed part of Rosie’s writings and we are delighted that Portfolio will be helping to keep this tradition ongoing on our blog.
In the mid-1800s world attention was focussed on the Karoo. Invalids from Europe flocked to breathe the fresh, clean, crisp, dry air and be cured of chest complaints. Beaufort’s Dr James Christie, who in the 1830s was ship-wrecked, made his way to Cape Town and then in the 1830s to a farm at Salt River, near Nelspoort, constantly promoted the Karoo. So did David Livingstone, who in 1850 wrote, “The Karoo is admirably suited for patients with pulmonary complaints”. James D Logan, Laird of Matjiesfontein, created South Africa’s first “health spa” at his privately-owned village and people streamed there from across the globe. Olive Schreiner, loved the Karoo and Victorian medical men, like Dr Hermann Weber, stated Karoo air is “eminently favourable for those with phthisis.”
For travellers leaving Cape Town on the N1, the exiting new Karoo 1 Hotel Village outside De Doorns is the inspiration of the Woestyn family who have created a theatrical village on Boontjeskraal an original 1860s Cape Dutch farmstead.