Being raised in the Klein Karoo from a tender age, it gradually became difficult for remote Cape regions to impress me. After all, the sky strung with stars at night or painted crimson at dawn or dusk was the norm for me. As were the freezing, icy winters (often with snowfall) or barren, dry landscapes covered only with fynbos, sparse trees, succulents and seasonal wild flowers. In many ways, I was a little naïve to think it was a desolate place when, just beneath and even above the surface, teemed such abundant life. As a teen, as I finally started…