The Swartberg Pass on the R328 runs over the Swartberg mountain range (''black mountain'' in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

) which runs roughly east–west along the northern edge of the semi-arid area called the

Little Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hard veld") is a semi- desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its ...

in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

province of

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

. It's the only road access to Gamkaskloof.

History

The construction of the Swartberg pass was started under the guidance of Jan Tassies who used 100 workers from Mozambique. After 13 months he went bankrupt and also only completed 6 km of the road! The rest of the pass was built between 1883 and 1888 by

Thomas Bain Thomas Bain (December 14, 1834 – January 18, 1915) was a Scottish born Canadian parliamentarian. Bain was born in Scotland, the son of Walter Bain, and migrated to Canada with his family when he was three years old. They settled on a bu ...

, son of the famous

Andrew Geddes Bain Andrew Geddes Bain (baptised 11 June 1797 – 20 October 1864), was a South African geologist, road engineer, palaeontologist and explorer. Life history The only child of Alexander Bain and Jean Geddes, both of whom died when Bain was still a ...

who built

Bain's Kloof Pass Bainskloof Pass ( af, Bainskloofpas) is a mountain pass on the R301 regional road between Wellington and Ceres in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The 18-kilometer (11-mile) pass, opened in 1854, was constructed by road engineer Andrew ...

and many more. It followed their earlier construction of another pass in 1858, the

Meiringspoort Meiringspoort (Afrikaans for "Meiring's pass") is a South African mountain pass on the N12 national road, where it crosses the Swartberg mountain range. Geography The pass is a gateway that connects the Little Karoo and the Great Karoo, throug ...

, through the same mountains but further east. It was built using convict labour, and opened on 10 January 1888. The dry-stone retaining walls, supporting some of its

hairpin bends A hairpin turn (also hairpin bend or hairpin corner) is a bend in a road with a very acute inner angle, making it necessary for an oncoming vehicle to turn about 180° to continue on the road. It is named for its resemblance to a bent metal hai ...

, are still in place and over 130 years old.

Geography

To the north of the range lies the other large semi-arid area in South Africa, the

Great Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hardveld") is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its ext ...

. Much of the Swartberg is part of a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

. The pass runs between

Oudtshoorn Oudtshoorn (, ), the "ostrich capital of the world", is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, located between the Swartberg mountains to the north and the Outeniqua Mountains to the south. Two ostrich-feather booms, during 1865– ...

in the south and Prince Albert in the north. The pass is not tarred and can be a little treacherous after rain, but has views over the

to the south and the

to the north. The plant life along the pass is very interesting, many hundreds of species being found on the Swartberg. The top of the pass is at .

Geology

The

Swartberg The Swartberg mountains (''black mountain'' in Afrikaans) are a mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is composed of two main mountain chains running roughly east–west along the northern edge of the semi-arid Little ...

mountains are amongst the best exposed fold mountain chains in the world, and the pass slices through magnificently scenic geological formations. The contortions in the rock display astonishing anticlines and synclines, and the vivid coloration of the surrounding Quartzite is remarkable. The pass is especially known for the unusual geology that is exposed at its Northern end. Here, seven-hundred-metre-high quartzite cliffs of the upper Table Mountain Group can be seen, and these are often tilted through 90 degrees (sometimes even more).Geological Journeys. Norman, N. and Whitfield, G. 2006 Arguably the most famous of all these cliff faces is the spectacular ' Wall of Fire'.

Gallery

Swartberg Pass Exit.JPG, Swartberg Pass Top of the Swartberg Pass.JPG, Top the Swartberg Pass Swartberg Pass Rock Formation.JPG, Swartberg Pass Rock Formation SwartbergTopViewN.JPG, View North from the Top of the Pass SwartbergTopViewS.JPG, View South from the Top of the Pass SwartbergP1020155.JPG, The Swartberg Mountains Swartberg Pass Formation.JPG, Swartberg Pass

References

*http://www.tourismcapetown.co.za/ctru/content/en/us/full-article?oid=5633&sn=Detail&pid=2995&Cape-Karoo-and-Klein-Karoo-Mountain-Passes *http://drakensberg-tourist-map.com/Swartberg.html

External links

Garden Route passesSouth African Government summary
{{Authority control Karoo Mountain passes of the Western Cape