Native to South Africa, ostriches long roamed a vast semidesert plain called the Karoo.

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Graaff-Reinet also has plenty of the surreal and fun quirks that characterise the Karoo.

BBC: South Africa��s arty eastern Karoo

"Many in the industry do believe in the enormous potential of the Karoo, " says Falcon's Mr. O'Quigley.

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The providers most likely to give callers an estimated speed were Karoo (76%), Sky (72%) and Plusnet (67%).

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Bethesda Art Centre runs art workshops and sells wonderful quilts that are made by the local community and decorated with colourful Karoo characters and stories.

BBC: South Africa��s arty eastern Karoo

The proprietor, Chris Bouwer, a trained opera singer who has performed across Europe, sings with local guest performers while you tuck into the house speciality of Karoo lamb shank.

BBC: South Africa��s arty eastern Karoo

Owl House Backpackers offers pleasant self-catering accommodation in Allemann se Huisie, a garden cottage with a patio for braais (barbacues), and Aandster, a renovated Karoo house and former sculpture studio.

BBC: South Africa��s arty eastern Karoo

Treasure the Karoo is campaigning to get fracking blocked.

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In South Africa, which may have the largest shale-gas reserves on the continent, the shales in the Karoo basin have attracted the attention of Shell, which is increasingly billing itself as a gas-focused company.

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For example, Athol Fugard, the internationally acclaimed Afrikaner playwright who wrote the Oscar-winning film Tsotsi and The Road to Mecca, a play about the local artist Helen Martins, found his muse in this scenic corner of the Karoo.

BBC: South Africa��s arty eastern Karoo