Across the world Covid has severely restricted travel. Here in South Africa we have been fortunate that only under the most stringent levels of lockdown have we been prevented from travelling across provincial borders and staying in guesthouses, provided Covid protocols are adhered to. Unable to visit children overseas and having been fully vaccinated, my friend P and I decided to take to the road to see more of our beautiful country and support local tourism. The Great Karoo was calling.
Stretching across the interior of the Western, Northern and Eastern Cape provinces, the Great Karoo is a place of wide open spaces, low semi -desert vegetation and big skies. Although often thought to be flat and boring to travel through, it has a constantly changing array of mesas, buttes and koppies making for a fascinating landscape. Small country dorps (towns), often full of pretty Victorian cottages and dominated by a large church, are situated about 100kms apart. This is traditionally sheep country, but they are not as abundant nowadays and there are several game farms. The N1 highway linking Cape Town to Johannesburg cuts across from SW to NE, as does the main railway line. There are also several disused railways lines, a few tarred roads and a network of gravel/dirt roads providing access to far flung farms and old railway sidings. Ideally suited to the adventurous explorer, this is a place to get off the beaten track.
P and I planned a trip covering 9 days, travelling from Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha) westward and culminating in Nieuwoudtville to see the spring flowers. We chose to avoid the N1, use tarred routes where possible, but also to use the gravel roads to reach isolated spots.
Below is a map showing the route we planned. Blue shows the way I travelled up to PE and the red is our trip across the Great Karoo.
Getting to Port Elizabeth
As I live almost 800 kms away, I set off at about 4:30 am on Monday 2nd Aug to travel up to Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha), where my friend P lives. I was very keen to travel over the scenic Swartberg Pass again and fortunately it had just reopened after snowfalls had closed it for a fortnight. It was very exciting travelling up in the dark through Ceres to Touwsriver, then along the N1 to Prince Albert Road. Although as usual there were lots of trucks on the N1, they were travelling in the opposite direction and so I made good time, with the sun rising just before I turned off to Prince Albert, a charming little town at the N entrance to the pass. After a brief stop to buy some cheese and snacks, I set off along the valley which leads to the pass, passing the old watermill.
Swartberg Pass
This 27km long pass links the Great Karoo with the Little Karoo to the south. It is a narrow gravel road that rises to 2,325 m through a series of sharp hairpins bends. Built between 1883 and 1888 by Thomas Bain with convict labour, the original dry stone walls supporting the road are still intact.
The entrance on the Prince Albert side is along a poort with cliffs covered in green lichen. The folds in the Cape Table Mountain sandstone of the Swartberg mountains on the Prince Albert side are particularly spectacular and I could not stop taking photos. The pass zigzags up to Teeberg, a viewpoint on the plateau. From the top of the pass one has a magnificent view over the Little Karoo to the Outeniqua mountains in the distance.
On to Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha)
Once down the pass, I headed off along a gravel road to De Rust for an early lunch, and then on to Uniondale, ducking off along another gravel road where there were lovely aloes in bloom. In Uniondale, I stopped to photograph the church and old watermill. From there it was easy to travel through Avontuur and along the Langkloof valley to Humansdorp and on to PE, where I arrived at P’s new home at about 5pm. A long day with some spectacular scenery – I was pleased to have avoided the busy N2 coastal road.
Read about Days 1 & 2 of our Great Karoo Adventure
Our Great Karoo Adventure: Getting to PE Gallery
