Mafeking Road

Original and unabridged text of this South African classic

Mafeking Road is the first published collection of Herman Charles Bosman's Oom Schalk Lourens stories.

Set in the Groot Marico in South Africa the stories are told through the eyes of Oom Schalk. The stories are wonderfully crafted, funny, tragic, and with many twists and turns. Oom Schalk is at times the wise old man of the Bosveld, the village idiot, a racist, a thoughtful voice on race relations, a bumbling romantic and a skilled match-maker.

Oom Schalk gave Bosman the ability to craft stories that we love but where we can't escape the truth of South Africa's past.

The gems include:


Starlight on the Veld
Willem Prinsloo’s Peach Brandy
In the Withaak’s Shade
Ox-Waggons on Trek
The Music-Maker
Marico Scandal
Mafeking Road
The Love Potion
Makapan’s Caves
Yellow Moepels
Bechuana Interlude
Brown Mamba
Dream by the Blue-Gums
The Gramophone
The Prophet
Drieka and the Moon
Mampoer
The Widow
Veld Maiden
The Rooinek
Splendours from Ramoutsa




These stories have become true South African classics and we don't doubt that you will fall in love with every one of them.