Daggaboers Nek Pass, also known simply as Daggaboers Nek, is situated in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, on the N10 national route, between

Cookhouse A cookhouse is a small building where cooking takes place. Often found at remote work camps, they complemented the bunkhouse and were usually found on ranches that employed cowboys, or loggers in a logging camp. Prior to the 20th century, cookho ...

and Cradock. The tarred pass has a northern and southern approach, with double lanes on both ascents. BMWR1150GSA

Background

It was named for the farm Daggaboersnek, which up to 1752 was known as Knapzakfontein. The pass has been in regular use since the 19th century, and a blacksmith, trading post, police station and small hotel were established there. The voortrekker

Louis Tregardt Louis Johannes TregardtFootnote (translated): Various opinions exist concerning the spelling of the surname which arrived with Louis' grandfather from Sweden. This forebear and his son almost always wrote it as "Tregard". Louis initially wrote it ...

for a time (c.1814–1820s) farmed in its vicinity, as did

Piet Retief Pieter Mauritz Retief (12 November 1780 – 6 February 1838) was a ''Voortrekker'' leader. Settling in 1814 in the frontier region of the Cape Colony, he assumed command of punitive expeditions in response to raiding parties from the adjacent ...

on the northern approach to the crest. In 1837

Benjamin D'Urban Lieutenant General Sir Benjamin D'Urban (16 February 1777 – 25 May 1849) was a British general and colonial administrator, who is best known for his frontier policy when he was the Governor in the Cape Colony (now in South Africa). Early ...

determined that the boundary between districts Cradock and Somerset would run over Daggaboers Nek. The 8th Frontier war (1850–1853) took place in the general area, and on old year's eve 1851, deserters from the

Cape Corps The Cape Corps and its predecessor units were the main military organisations in which the Coloured members of South Africa's population served. History As one of the military units of South Africa with one of the longest histories, the Cape ...

ambushed and killed two young men, Henry and Edward Trollip, at Sunnyside farm near the nek. The Trollips were

British Settlers The 1820 Settlers were several groups of British colonists from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, settled by the government of the United Kingdom and the Cape Colony authorities in the Eastern Cape of South Africa in 1820. Origins After the ...

whose graves can still be seen here, the earliest dating to 1856. The Daggaboer

Farm Stall A Farm Stall or padstal (Afrikaans) is an integral component of South African culture. From the Western Cape to the Eastern Cape these pitstops are a must on every road trip. They took their beginning in little stalls built next to roads, some wit ...

opened in November 2006 on the northern approach, some 3 km from the crest, and Daggaboer safaris on the southern approach offers overnight accommodation.

SANRAL The South African National Roads Agency SOC Ltd or SANRAL is a South African parastatal responsible for the management, maintenance and development of South Africa's proclaimed National Road network which includes many (but not all) National ("N") ...

started a major upgrade of the pass in January 2013, which was expected to take 5 years. "Dagga" is a South African word for wheat, grass or cannabis, while "boers" means farmers', and "nek" is a

saddle The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not kno ...

, yet the origin of this place name is not known. It is speculated that cannabis may have been cultivated here, perhaps as a supplement to horse feed. "Dagga" was however also a

Khoisan Khoisan , or (), according to the contemporary Khoekhoegowab orthography, is a catch-all term for those indigenous peoples of Southern Africa who do not speak one of the Bantu languages, combining the (formerly "Khoikhoi") and the or ( in t ...

word for game, while "Daggaboer" may be a concatenation of a greeting like "dag ou boer."

References

{{reflist Mountain passes of the Eastern Cape