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Karoo

This article is about the semidesert region of South Africa. For other uses, see Karoo (disambiguation).

Karoo
ǃ’Aukarob
Natural region
Typical Karoo vegetation to the south of Matjiesfontein, with the Anysberg Mountains visible in the background
Typical Karoo vegetation to the south of Matjiesfontein, with the Anysberg Mountains visible in the background
Extent of the Karoo (olive-green) and Little Karoo (bright green) in South Africa, with the names of surrounding areas in blue. The thick interrupted line indicates the course of the Great Escarpment which delimits the Central South African Plateau. To the immediate south and south-west the solid lines trace the parallel ranges of the Cape Fold Belt.[1]
Extent of the Karoo (olive-green) and Little Karoo (bright green) in South Africa, with the names of surrounding areas in blue. The thick interrupted line indicates the course of the Great Escarpment which delimits the Central South African Plateau. To the immediate south and south-west the solid lines trace the parallel ranges of the Cape Fold Belt.[1]
Coordinates: 32°16′S 22°19′E / 32.27°S 22.31°E / -32.27; 22.31
CountrySouth Africa

The Karoo (/kəˈruə/ kə-ROO-ə; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ǃ’Aukarob "Hardveld"[2][3]) 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.[4][5] The Karoo also hosted a well-preserved ecosystem hundreds of million years ago which is now represented by many fossils.[6]

The ǃ’Aukarob formed an almost impenetrable barrier to the interior from Cape Town, and the early adventurers, explorers, hunters, and travelers on the way to the Highveld unanimously denounced it as a frightening place of great heat, great frosts, great floods, and great droughts.[7] Today, it is still a place of great heat and frosts, and an annual rainfall of between 50 and 250 mm, though on some of the mountains it can be 250 to 500 mm higher than on the plains.[4] However, underground water is found throughout the Karoo, which can be tapped by boreholes, making permanent settlements and sheep farming possible.[4][5]

The xerophytic vegetation consists of aloes, mesembryanthemums, crassulas, euphorbias, stapelias, and desert ephemerals, spaced 50 cm or more apart,[4][8] and becoming very sparse going northwards into Bushmanland and, from there, into the Kalahari Desert. The driest region of the Karoo, however, is its southwestern corner, between the Great Escarpment and the Cederberg-Skurweberg mountain ranges, called the Tankwa Karoo, which receives only 75 mm of rain annually.[4] The eastern and north-eastern Karoo are often covered by large patches of grassland. The typical Karoo vegetation used to support large game, sometimes in vast herds.[7][9]

Today, sheep thrive on the xerophytes, though each sheep requires about 4 hectares (9.9 acres) of grazing to sustain itself.[4]

  1. ^ Atlas of Southern Africa. (1984). p. 13, 98–106, 114–119. Reader’s Digest Association, Cape Town
  2. ^ "karoo". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  3. ^ English – Kora index Archived 17 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b c d e f Potgieter, D.J. & du Plessis, T.C. (1972) Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa. Vol. 6. pp. 306–307. Nasou, Cape Town.
  5. ^ a b Reader’s Digest Illustrated Guide to Southern Africa. (5th Ed. 1993). pp. 78–89. Reader’s Digest Association of South Africa Pty. Ltd., Cape Town.
  6. ^ Sahney, S.; Benton, M.J. (2008). "Recovery from the most profound mass extinction of all time". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 275 (1636): 759–65. doi:10.1098/rspb.2007.1370. PMC 2596898. PMID 18198148.
  7. ^ a b Palmer, E. (1966) The Plains of Camdeboo. p. 12-13, 120, 126, 140–146. Fontana/ Collins, London.
  8. ^ The New Encyclopædia Britannica. Micropaedia, Vol. 6. (2007). p. 750. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., Chicago.
  9. ^ Conolly, D. (1992). Conolly’s Guide to Southern Africa. (5th Ed.) pp. 106–117. Conolly Publishers, Scottburgh.

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