Hey! Amazon opened its online doors in South Africa today.
The Books section has a language filter— necessary for a country with 11 official languages.
I searched for Afrikaans books, and specifically for the beloved Afrikaans poet and author C.J. Langenhoven (1873-1932).
I did find the book Loeloeraai, but right now it is out of stock on amazon.co.za.
It is believed to be the very first Afrikaans science fiction novel. Most of the colorful characters in the book are from Langenhoven’s other books: Kerneels, Vroutjie (‘wifey’), their daughter Engela, his uncle Stoffel, his brother-in-law Watwo, Herrie (Kerneels’s tame elephant) and Jakhals (Kerneels’s dog).
The other main character is Loeloeraai— an unexpected visitor from Venus that lands at Kerneels’s homestead on his farm.
At first, Kerneels is very leery of the alien, but realizes over time that Loeloeraai has no ill intentions. (Other humans that learn of Loeloeraai wants the alien locked up in jail).
Loeloeraai’s visit is ostensibly to learn more of Earth, but the alien’s interaction with humans educate them about their greed, self-interest and cruelty.
The novel illustrates what was known of the universe at the time, and also what was still unknown.