The Karoo is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent is also not precisely defined. The Karoo is partly defined by its topography, geology and climate, and above all, its low rainfall, arid air, cloudless skies, and extremes of heat and cold. The Karoo also hosted a well-preserved ecosystem hundreds of million years ago which is now represented by many fossils.
Oudtshoorn Municipality is a local municipality within the Garden Route District Municipality, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. As of 2011, the population was 95,933.
Oudtshoorn is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, located between the Swartberg mountains to the north and the Outeniqua Mountains to the south. Dubbed the "ostrich capital of the world", Oudtshoorn is known for its ostrich-feather booms, during 1865–1870 and 1900–1914. With approximately 60,000 inhabitants, it is the largest town in the Little Karoo region. The town's economy is primarily reliant on the ostrich farming and tourism industries. Oudtshoorn is home to the world's largest ostrich population, with a number of specialised ostrich breeding farms, such as the Safari Show Farm and the Highgate Ostrich Show Farm, as told by Mnr. Pierre D. Toit.
The Swartberg mountains are a mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is composed of two main mountain chains running roughly east–west along the northern edge of the semi-arid Little Karoo. To the north of the range lies the other large semi-arid area in South Africa, the Great Karoo. Most of the Swartberg Mountains are above 2000 m high, making them the tallest mountains in the Western Cape. It is also one of the longest, spanning some 230 km from south of Laingsburg in the west to between Willowmore and Uniondale in the east. Geologically, these mountains are part of the Cape Fold Belt.
Aardklop is an annual South African arts festival held in Potchefstroom, South Africa. Potchefstroom has always been a cultural city and home to several well-known South African writers and artists.
Petronel Malan is a South African concert pianist based in the United States.
Fokofpolisiekar is an Afrikaans alternative rock band from Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa. Due to the obscenity in the name, they are also commonly known simply as Polisiekar or FPK.
Die Grafsteensangers is a comical entertainment group in South Africa. The 12 members of the group, with ages varying between 18 and 83, sing mostly old Afrikaans songs with straight faces and in old costumes.
Natalia Da Rocha is a South African actress, director, youth activist and businesswoman. She can be remembered as being one of the few persons of colour to appear in entertainment media during the Apartheid-era. In 1981 she was the first Coloured to graduate with a Drama degree from the Afrikaans dominant Stellenbosch University. Beginning 1987 she was the first woman of colour along with Sam Marais to star in a Sun City Extravaganza. In 1992, she became the first South African star to perform publicly in Madagascar. She is well remembered for her roles in musicals such as Ain't Misbehavin'; Midnight Blues; Godspell and Vere . Natalia was one of 40 inducted into the S.A. Legends Museum on 26 January 2020 in Johannesburg.
Margaretha Murray is a South African actress and writer.
Amanda Strydom is a South African singer and songwriter. Although she is known best for her singing, Strydom has also been active as a playwright and actress, most notably in the fields of cabaret and also in television.
Haas Das se Nuuskas was a weekly short television show in South Africa about a rabbit and a mouse running a news broadcast in Diere Land. Created by Louise Smit in 1976, at the time of television's introduction in South Africa, it was the first children's television programme in that country. The "news" typically revolved around all the animals' complaints, achievements and scandals. The voice of Haas Das was performed by a real South African news anchorman, Riaan Cruywagen.
Wikus du Toit is a South African producer, actor, comedian, composer, and director.
The Afrikaans Language and Culture Association, ATKV, is a society that aims to promote the Afrikaans language and culture. The association was founded in 1930 in Cape Town. Since its inception and up to the end of Apartheid in 1994, membership was only open to members of the Afrikaner Christian community. Membership was thereafter opened to include people of all ethnicities, sharing the same values as the ATKV.
Marco Cianfanelli is a South African artist who has been involved in a wide range of projects involving art, architecture and public spaces. Cianfanelli combines computer-generated, data-driven applications with human, expressive, gestural acts to create tension in his work. Cianfanelli is one of a handful of South African artists whose work successfully spans the public and domestic sphere. He began his career painting landscapes and continues to be concerned with romanticized space and that which is marginalized through the very act of romanticizing. Cianfanelli's slick, pared-down, iconographic recent works are intricately linked with the complexity of loving South Africa.
Vinette Ebrahim is a South African actress and playwright known for her role as Charmaine Meintjies in the SABC 2 soap opera 7de Laan. She is the sister of actor Vincent Ebrahim.
Deon Lotz is a South African film, television, and theatre actor. He is perhaps best known internationally for roles in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and Beauty (Skoonheid). He has appeared in both English- and Afrikaans-language productions.
Shaleen Surtie-Richards was a South African television, stage, and film actress, perhaps best known for her starring roles in the 1988 film Fiela se Kind and the long-running series Egoli: Place of Gold. She performed in both Afrikaans and English.
The Gariep Arts Festival, also known as the Gariep Kunstefees, is an annual four-day Afrikaans local music event that happens in the city of Kimberly, in South Africa, usually during the first weekend of September. It started in 1999 and has been running for 18 years, attracting both locals and tourists. The festival is classified as a regional arts festival as it draws people from two major cities: Kimberley and Bloemfontein.
André Roothman, also known as Andre Roddtman, is a South African actor and teacher. In a career spanning more than four decades, Roothman had made several notable roles in theatre, cinema and television. He is best known for the roles in the films; Consequence, Charlie Jade, Cape Town as well as Arende franchise and soap operas 7de Laan and Arendsvlei.
