The desolate and inspiring Karoo

As a child, the Karoo was nothing but a monotonous stretch of road between Bloemfontein and the Wilderness where we spent our vacations. The relentless heat and the endless straight road felt like a punishment to my young self. But as an adult, I developed a profound appreciation for the stark beauty and vastness of the Karoo. With every road trip, I discovered something intriguing that made me want to delve deeper into the history of the region. I enjoyed exploring the dusty little towns with their magnificent churches and saw donkey carts still being used as a mode of transport. The Karoo’s stories, traditions, and people fascinated me.

Strolling beneath the clear azure sky one day, the rock formations that surrounded me seemed to stretch endlessly, giving the impression that I was walking on the ocean floor. A little research uncovered that millions of years before, the arid land was once a colossal inland sea. The sight was truly mesmerising, with the vibrant hues of blue above and the earthy tones of the rocks below. The dry, hot air and the sunbaked ground fuelled my imagination.

The endless road.

A beautiful church in the Karoo

The backdrop for The Sisterhood of the Dragonfly trilogy is the fictional Jakkalsvallei, a place where the awe-inspiring scenery of the Karoo National Park marries the unsettling silence of the Valley of Desolation. Herby plants infuse the air with the fragrant smells of sage, thyme, rosemary, eucalyptus and lavender, and the sound of the birds creates a harmonious soundtrack. As I wrote my story, I imagined the scorching sun beating down on the friends and the balmy berg wind rustling through their hair. With each step, I felt the crunch of rocks and gravel beneath their feet, as they immersed themselves in the rugged beauty of the landscape.

The scenic Karoo towns I discovered on my road trips captivated me; their charm simply irresistible. The beautiful and quaint buildings, the intriguing people, and the ghost stories of the past made them a treasure trove to explore. I crafted the fictitious town of Stanton to resemble the captivating little towns which I fell in love with as I explored the lonely landscape.

The Karoo National Park

Karoo national Park

The Valley of Desolation

To spend time alone under the night sky in the Karoo, is pure soul food. The Milky Way shimmers like a gauzy veil and the stars twinkle like a myriad of diamonds, their light piercing through the blackness. Around you the stillness of the Karoo seeps into your very being, opening the floodgates to your soul. The silence is so thick that you can almost touch it, and in that moment, you feel like you are a part of something much bigger than yourself, something ancient and powerful.

It's that something that the friends find in Jakkalsvallei, that challenges them to rise above the adversity they face.