In this chat we cover diverse subjects including weather systems, a new tour to the Swartberg area and the Zuurberg Pass.

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We discuss the second day of the recent Swartberg Tour.

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A chat covering day 1 of our recent Swartberg Tour

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This relatively unknown pass is located on the farm road designated MR00363 between the Swartberg Pass and Calitzdorp, just to the east of the Kruisrivier settlement. It offers marvellous scenery with the mighty Swartberg Range looming ever present to the north. With a moderate length of 4.7 km and an equally modest altitude gain of 156m it produces an easy average gradient of 1:30 but there are a few sections that do ramp up 1:8.

There are a number of passes to the north-east of Calitzdorp which mainly follow the many river courses that flow down from the Swartberg Mountains. These include the Kruisrivierpoort, Huis se Hoogte, and Coetzees Poort. There are a number of cautionaries for this pass, despite it's modest statistics. These inlclude some very sharp corners, steep drop offs, loose gravel on the corners, ruts and washaways as well as a strong possibility of finding livestock on the road.

A discussion around the details of the upcoming Great Swartberg Tour in May 2019.

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A short and dramatic poort approaching Prince Albert on the tarred R407 from Klaarstroom in the east. This short poort often goes by unnoticed after motorists have traversed either the Swartberg Pass or Meiringspoort (both amongst the most famous of South African passes) and that is quite understandable. If you put the Witkranspoort anywhere else in South Africa, it would get plenty of attention. The poort is the final bit of mountain scenery to drive through before reaching the beautiful Karoo village of Prince Albert.

South Africa and especially the Klein Karoo (Little Karoo) has some of the finest gravel roads for the purpose of eco-tourism. With the popularity of the GPS, these minor roads are just waiting to be discovered. The Rust en Vrede Pass (Rest and Peace) provides a fabulous drive along a gravel road with sufficient gradient and curves to make it a memorable mountain pass. It follows the east/west axis of the Swartberg Mountains on its southern side.

This fairly steep gravel pass lies on the east/west axis on the southern side of the Swartberg Mountains and connects the Kruisrivier farming area in the west with the Swartberg Private Game Lodge at the eastern end of the pass. Continuing eastwards along this road (P363) will bring you to the foot of the Swartberg Pass as well as ultimately to the Cango Caves.

At the 3.2 km the pass is well below the national average and the altitude variance is a mere 98m, but it is the magnificent scenery which makes this one of those back road passes well worth detouring to travel.

This little known poort lies just north-east of Calitzdorp and provides a superb, but slower gravel alternative to the R62. It connects Calitzdorp with the farming communities that lie to the north of the R62 and south of the Swartberg Mountains. The poort offers beautiful and dramatic scenery of the unusual red sandstone mountains.

The Elands Pass is the final descent down into the long, low altitude valley called Gamkaskloof, but more commonly known as "Die Hel". This page is repeated in its entirety on the main Gamkaskloof page. If you intend driving this pass, we recommend rather switching to the main Gamkaskloof entry which covers all ten sections, including the Elands Pass. The videos on this page are more detailed than the videos on the gamkaskloof page, so if your interest is is the Elands Pass perse, then remain on this page.

This pass descends a total of 477m over a distance of 4,7 km producing a very stiff average gradeint of just under 1:10. You will have to deal with five very tight hairpin bends, and 49 other bends, corners and curves of varying degrees, but it is the very steep, unguarded drop-offs that tend be unnerving for many drivers and passengers. The design of the pass is actually very good and there is no point where the gradient exceeds 1:7.

This pass, although fairly short ranks right up with the biggest and best passes in South Africa, attracting in excess of 10,000 page views each year. This is a bucket list pass and one that every adventurous traveller should do.