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
Desert Force Desert Force The Desert Force ( Arabic:قوات البادية , Eng:Al-Badia Force), also known as the Desert Patrol, is a paramilitary force of Transjordan. Its main task was to guard Jordanian borders with neighboring Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Syria as well as to provide protection for oil pipe lines of Iraqi Petroleum Company (IPC). It also participated in campaigns of Syria and Iraq during World War II. The Desert Patrol was formed as a semi-independent part of the Arab Legion in February 1931 by Glubb Pasha to secure Transjordan's desert region of the country, effectively everything east of the cultivated area