Karoo Ramblings – Short Stories and Tall Tales

David Biggs was born in South Africa’s vast Karoo and grew up on a sheep farm, where he developed a love for the area and all its creatures, human and animal. For many years he has worked as a journalist in Cape Town, writing a daily column for the Cape Argus newspaper and regular stories in magazines.But the call of the Great Karoo has remained as strong as ever and often finds him wending his way along the highway to his old home. Whenever he can he returns to the family farm Grapevale to allow the dust and smoke of the city to blow away and enjoy the wide spaces, the gentle humour and sound sense of it all. How could anybody resist a place where meerkats watch soap operas on TV and sheepdogs ride on motorcycles?
In this little book he takes us on a whimsical journey through this fascinating country, stopping along the way to discover a little history, meet some very unusual people and share a few strange stories that may even be true.

Tony Grogan has been making social and political commentary through his cartoons in the Cape Times for thirty years and more recently in the Sunday Independent. Fig Jam and Foxtrot, which he illustrated, was placed first in the world in its category of illustrated cookbooks at the Gourmand Cook Book Awards in 2004. In addition to several collections of cartoons he has also published several books of his own drawings and water colours: Vanishing Cape Town, Settler Country, Between Cape and Cairo and A Cape Town Sketchbook.