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Road surfaces on these passes is heavily dependent on weather conditions. It is advisable to check with locals on the condition of the roads and whether it is possible to travel the passes in a 2-wheel drive vehicle before travelling.
Almost directly opposite the turnoff to Amalienstein, is a road that heads into the Klein Swartberg to Seweweekspoort. It was used by early farmers to penetrate the Great Karoo. It is 17 km long and very rugged, the scenery wild and frequently the slopes or spurs of the mountain leave a narrow pass just broad enough for the stream to find a passage, while precipices of naked rock tower like walls of a natural bastion on both sides.
There are various explanations as to the origin of the name Seweweeks-poort: ranging from the length of time it took a commando to take a band of highwaymen into the Great Karoo; or for the authorities to catch a rustler who escaped into the poort; or for a gang of brandy smugglers to return from Beaufort West.
Another explanation is that the poort was named after one of the first missionaries from the nearby Amalienstein mission station, namely the Reverend Zerwick and that the locals could not pronounce his name and named it Seweweekspoort. Most authorities though accept the explanation that the name is derived from that of the Seven-week’s fern (Polystichum adiantiforum), called Seweweeksvaring in Afrikaans, which occurs in moist places and crevices. The form Seweweekspoort is preferred for official purposes.
The spectacular Prince Alfred's Pass winds from Avontuur near Uniondale in the Klein Karoo to the coast. The coastal destinations can be either Knysna or Plettenberg Bay. Total Distance: 88km
In the 1800's Thomas Bain was asked to build the pass which provided him with his biggest challenge to date. He began his work on the pass in 1860 and completed it in 1867 for a mere £11 000.
Today, Prince Alfred's Pass is a well-travelled road for both South Africans and international tourists linking the Klein Karoo with the coast.
With four biomes on the pass it provides a home to an abundance of indigenous fauna and flora. The road crosses the river 7 times while winding through the mountains. This spectacular 88km mountain pass is also the home of the Middle Keurbooms Conservancy. Concerned landowners started the conservancy in June 2006. Today it covers more than 30 thousand hectares, protecting indigenous fauna and flora and participating in various eco- tourism and eco-farming activities.
It is the only pass in South Africa where people live alongside the road and trade in the pass. Come and explore this lovely winding road, be warned that you will be charmed by it's beauty. De Vlugt is a small hamlet somewhat half way through the pass. Here you will find an array of quality accommodation, restaurants, tea gardens and many unique outdoor activities. Visit the information centre for more information.
The Middel Keurbooms Conservancy opened its very own self-help information centre in 2008. Once in de Vlugt be on the lookout for the signposts. Here travellers can get detailed information on our area. After a dusty journey visitors are welcome to relax and enjoy a picnic under indigenous trees. A clean toilet with water is also available. Experience this unique conservation corridor between the Baviaans, Little Karoo & the coast.
To reach Riversdale to the south of Ladismith, one has to travel over Garcia Pass. The development of Ladismith in the early 1850's and the necessity for the farmers and traders to have access to Riversdale and thus so to the port of Mossel Bay, called for a more direct route through the Langeberg mountains. At that time, Plattekloof Pass was the only existing route over the mountain - quite a considerable detour.
Mr A H Garcia, Civil Commissioner of Riversdale was not an engineer, but he realized this fact and rode into the mountains following the course of the Kafferskuils River Gorge to see if there was a possibility of constructing a pass at that point. Although the river was not large, the gorge is and Garcia found a way through the mountains. With the help of a few convicts, he constructed a bridle path and by 1868 it was in general use by horsemen.
A proper road was demanded by some people and in 1871 Thomas Bain was asked to examine the route. He reported that a pass could be built. By the end of 1873 work commenced on the road, using 107 convicts to do the work. Despite many problems causing frustration for Bain, the pass was officially opened by Mr A H Garcia on 31 December 1877, having taken 4 years to complete.
The old Toll house was built in 1877 and was in use till 1918, when Toll Stations were abolished. It has been restored and declared a National Monument in 1986. The pass was finally widened and tarred in 1963. Garcia Pass is one of the lesser known passes of the Cape and deserves more publicity, for it's a fine example of the pass builders' craft. After crossing the Kafferkuils River the road climbs the velvety slopes of Mosambiekkop. The old pass has been reconstructed and widened in places, the sharp curves eliminated and cuttings substituted. From the new road one can admire the strength of the supporting walls (sometimes 15m high) which Bain's convicts built. The view over the valley is extensive and striking. The deep canyon is formed by the river, on the far side of which the houses of the Corrente-Vette irrigation scheme is visible.
The Rooiberg Conservancy covers 60 000 ha intact veld and was the first nature conservation area in the Klein Karoo and forms part of the Gouritz Biodiversity meander (click here for more information), which covers 3 - Succulent Karoo, Fynbos and Subtropical Thicket - of the 35 Biodiversity Hotspots around the world.
It is a mountainess area with deep ravines and as in a catchment area, several rivers and pools have been formed. At the low-lying areas of the pass the vegetation is succulent Karoo, changing to more fynbos as the road winds to the summit. In the higher lying areas are ravines with indigenous forests, with stinkwood trees growing in some of the ravines. Several mammal species occur in the area, such as klipspringer, grey rhebuck, duiker, grysbuck, leopards and other cat species. A new endemic butterfly, Thestor rooibergensis has been discovered some time ago in the area.
From Vanwyksdorp one could take the turn-off towards Gamkaberg, via Dwars-in-die-Weg over the Rooiberg Pass to Calitzdorp. While not spectacularin the way of providing huge drops, the pass is a substantial one, rising to a height of 800m and crossing the top of the range before descending to the west bank of the Gamka River near Calitzdorp. It is said that the pass was constructed during the depression and built with spades and wheelbarrows by the inhabitants of Vanwyksdorp.
At the summit of the pass is a site where earlier travellers prayed to give thanks everytime that they did the dangerous and difficult trip and also asked for help with the steep descent. Each deposited a stone on a prayer heap and it can still be seen today. From here one has a 360º view of the surrounding Klein Karoo, with the Langeberg in the south and the Klein Swartberg to the north, with rising hills on the plains, which is so typical of the Klein Karoo landscape.
To reach Laingsburg from Ladismith, the traveller has to travel to the west to round the Klein Swartberg mountain to Rooinek Pass or drive through Seweweekspoort via Vleiland to reach his destination. The Buffelsrivier runs mainly south and east from Rooinek Pass through a 12 km gorge and this offered the chance of a more direct route between the two towns.
During the sixties the Cape Provincial Adminstration investigated the possibility of building a road through the poort and ran a survey along the route. Besides the normal hazards of a road survey (the poort was heavily bushed), the survey party had to flee in haste up the sides of the gorge one evening when a flood came down. After this initial survey, consulting engineers investigated the route in considerable detail. It was realised that a high-standard road was needed and when the catchment area of the Buffelsrivier was taken into consideration, there was no way in which the road could run along the narrow riverbed. There would have to be a long section where it was necessary to provide precast concrete brackets, as long as the width of the road, bolted to the rock face to keep the road above flood level. Obviously this would have made construction very expensive and the project was shelved.
After the Laingsburg flood in 1981, it was realised that no road through Buffelspoort could stand bad floods, making sure that Buffelspoort could be classified as "one of the passes which never were" as well as "a pass that will never be".
Buffelspoort is an absolute pristine wilderness area and has been declared a Nature Heritage area. The impressive S-shaped poort with 600m high spectacular folded rock formations, was formed by the Buffelsrivier carving its way through the mountain. It is said that leopard still roams there, as well as the fish and black eagle. Nature's amazing healing ability has seen to it that the vegetation has reinstated itself after the devastating 1981 flood - stripping it completely of its vegetation.
Buffelspoort also offers 4x4 routes, one being the challenging organized Rubicon route through the gorge, as well as several mountain bike routes.
From the northern end of Seweweekspoort, the road turns right, running up the northern foot of the Swartberg up to Bosluiskloof Pass, where it is hemmed in between the Swartberg and Elandberg. It snakes for 22km between the two mountain ranges, forming the border between the Klein Karoo and Great Karoo, leading to Gamkapoort Dam. The pass has been called the "Gateway to the Ghoup".
Adam de Smidt built Bosluiskloof Pass while and after working on Seweweekspoort to complete the natural link from Prince Albert to the west. It was not particularly difficult to built and the pass has a beauty of its own. A sea of blue mountains, cones and peaks, table tops and jagged lines of hillocks, meet the eye when one starts the descent on the pass. Fossils dating back hundreds of millions of years were in abundance - the most prolific being fossils of ticks ('bosluise') -hence the name of the river and pass.
The area around the Gamkapoort Dam is a treasure of fossils. Among the numerous fossilized species discovered are trilobites, ancient arthropods which lived in the beginning of the Cambrian period 570 million years ago. They flourished as scavengers for 350 million years before becoming extinct. Fossilized brachiopods (lampshells) also abound, superficially resembling molluscs such as clams.
The Gamkapoort Dam was completed in 1969, cutting off the continuation of the road to Prince Albert.
The earliest route from Ladismith to Calitzdorp was a kloof - Welgevonden or Rooielsboskloof - discovered in 1807. It was opened by Gerrit Pretorius and being the only direct way to Ladismith, was used extensively. A few years later, in 1810, it was renamed Caledon Kloof in honour of the Governor of the Cape Colony at that time. It could not be designated as a pass, because it was nothing but the roughest of tracks following the streambed through the mountain, emerging south-west of Calitzdorp.
The route was beautiful, but frightening, passing between high rock walls, almost touching one another in places. The passage was so narrow that there was hardly enough room for both the stream and road.
Potholes, half a metre deep, alternated with hugh rocks and the kloof was strewn with broken wheels, bits of wagons and skeletons of oxen. In 1882 a survey was done to investigate the possibility of a railway line, but it was found that the kloof was too narrow to carry both the road and a rail line. The road will have to be sacrified for the railway and the road will be taken by way of the Huisrivier. The whole bed of the kloof was washed away by floods in May 1885, thus bringing an end to the thoughts of developing Caledon Kloof as a permanent route between the two towns.
Finally in 1996 a new road was built through the Huisrivier Pass, and a modern highway was constructed. Four kilometers from Calitzdorp one enters the pass. It is a spectacular road winding through the mountain up to 665m above sea level, providing some spectacular views of the rock formations - composed of sedimentary sandstone strata, originally laid down under the sea and forced upwards by such enormous pressure that they became warped and twisted into intricate shapes, - a continuation of the Cape Fold mountain range. Parts of the old gravel road can still be seen in places.
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