Karoo thunderstorms in the Great Karoo. The Swartberg Pass is not tarred and can be treacherously slippery after rain. It also becomes impassable after heavy snowfalls on the mountain, a not infrequent occurrence in winter. Poet Thomas Hardy wrote of the Karoo in his poem "Drummer Hodge". In "Bridge-Guard in the Karroo", Rudyard Kipling evoked the loneliness experienced by blockhouse soldiers at Ketting station on the Dwyka River while guarding the Karoo railway track, a lifeline during the South African War (excerpts). Karoo The Karoo ( ; from a Khoikhoi word, possibly "garo" "desert") is a semi desert natural region of
Okanagan Desert 97. The region was the subject of a 1999 National Film Board of Canada documentary "Pocket Desert - Confessions of a Snake Killer". Okanagan Desert The Okanagan Desert is the common name for a semi-arid area located in the South Okanagan region of British Columbia, Canada, primarily around Osoyoos Lake. Part of the area is called the Nk'mip Desert by the Osoyoos Indian Band, though the entire region, like other similar parts of the British Columbia Interior, is technically only semi-arid shrub-steppe. While some areas in British Columbia are more arid, the South Okanagan shrub-steppe contains several species of plants