passes

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A quick trip through the Bloukrans River Pass

The Bloukrans River Pass must be one of the most beautiful passes in the Southern Cape and Garden Route areas.  Unfortunately after the 2006 floods part of the road was damaged and rather than repairing it, the road was closed.  Although officially closed it isn't blocked off and there is nothing stopping cars from driving down it so that is just what I did a couple of weeks ago returning to Port Elizabeth from The Crags.  There are sections where…

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11/09/2015
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Sir Lowry’s Pass lookout

The first sighting of the Cape, False Bay and Table Mountain one gets approaching from the east is from the top of Sir Lowry's Pass on top of the Hottentots Holland Mountains.  The view sight is situated at the top of the pass and about 920 meters above sea level.  The view site gives a beautiful panorama from Gordon's Bay and Strand on the shore of False Bay on the left towards Somerset West and the Helderberg on the right. …

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22/07/2014
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Sir Lowry’s Pass view point

After nearly a day on the road between Port Elizabeth and Cape Town (roughly about 800km and normally an 8 hour drive if you only stop once or twice briefly) one starts to be in a hurry by the time you get to the top of Sir Lowry's Pass just west of Somerset West.  The end destination is within reach after all.  I like to pull over on top of the pass at the view point for a couple of minutes first…

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31/03/2014
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Cogmans Kloof

Cogmans Kloof outside Montagu is one of the famous landmarks on Route 62 through the Klein Karoo.  The Cogmans Kloof Pass passes through a poort (a poort being defined as a path through a mountain range) which runs through the Langeberg between Ashton and Montagu.  The first white farmers in the area were allocated farms from 1725 onwards and the original road through the poort was a dangerous one alongside the Kingna River which incorporates eight hazardous drifts.  To get around Kalkoenkrantz…

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28/02/2013
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Tsitsikamma Forest Trail Part 3: Up the old pass

The first part of our walk through the Plaatbos Nature Reserve took us on various trails through the forest before taking a halfway break next to the Storms River by the old low water bridge.  This left us with the walk back up to the village on the Storms River Pass. In 1879 the famous pass builder Thomas Bain was busy surveying the area east of Plettenberg Bay and found it to consist of almost impenetrable forests and deep river gorges.  To get…

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06/12/2012
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Mountain flowers

Little dry flowers on top of the Swartberg Pass outside Oudtshoorn. I am always amazed at the resilience of plants growing in an area where in summer the temperature can top 40 degrees Celsius and in winter is often covered in snow.

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22/08/2010
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Herold

As you cross over the Montagu Pass from George into the Klein Karoo you enter a small village called Herold. Herold is tucked away in the mountains at the end of the beautiful historic pass. The town developed as a result of the the pass that was constructed in 1847. The town grew quite rapidly as travellers along this new road to the Klein Karoo needed a place to stay as well as other essential services. It continued to be…

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03/07/2010
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Swartberg Pass toll house

The ruin of the old toll house on the Swartberg Pass (here and here) can be found at the start of the pass on the Oudtshoorn side of the mountain. I would have wanted to spend some more time at the ruin getting photographs, but it was hot (around 40 degrees Celsius) and the family was getting impatient in the car.

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16/04/2010
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Toll house flowers

Flowers growing next to the old toll house on the Montagu Pass near George I am currently on the Garden Route on a business trip (with a borrowed camera in hand as mine is still in for repairs) so I am hoping to get some opportunities to take a couple of nice pics of the area to post in the near future.

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23/03/2010
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Montagu Pass Part 2

As you drive higher up the Montagu Pass, the road gets steeper and narrower. You can imagine how this could have been a problem during the early days of ox wagons. Two wagons could not pass abreast in most places, specially around the tight corners. Consequently the drivers and ox leaders had to whistle and shout and crack their whips continuously to warn one another of their approach. Very close to the top of the pass, the road passes under…

4 Comments
22/01/2010