The KwaGoniwe Tyaliti Mountain forces the pass to follow the river
The KwaGoniwe Tyaliti Mountain forces the pass to follow the river - Photo: Trygve Roberts

This relatively unknown tarred pass forms part of four passes along the R410 route between Queenstown and Elliot in the the high altitude region of the Eastern Cape - the others being from west to east the Nonesi's Nek Pass, the MacKay's Nek Pass, this pass and finally the Cala Pass forming a set of huge stepping stones towards the highest region of the Eastern Cape and the gateway to all the major gravel passes close to the southern Drakensberg and Lesotho. The pass offers lovely mountainous scenery and a traverse alongside a river filled with white water during summer. It's modern, well engineered and is suitable for all traffic. It's 12,3 km long and has an altitude variance of 323 vertical metres to summit at 1566m ASL producing an average gradient of 1:38 with the steepest section being at 1:11 The pass is subject to winter snowfalls.

The full content of this article is restricted to subscribers.

Subscribe for only R550 a year and get full access to our website (936+ mountain passes), including the videos, the full text of all mountain passes articles, fact-file, interactive map, directions and route files.

Subscribe Now (1 year)

New: Lifelong subscription. You'll never have to worry about annual renewals or price increases. Enjoy a Lifetime Subscription to our website for just R5,000 once-off.

Subscribe Now (Lifetime subscription)

If you have already subscribed to our site, you can Log in to view the full article.

Log in


You will gain full access to the best parts of the website, which include:

  • the full content (non subscribers only see about 10% of the text) of 936+ mountain passes,
  • plus you get the video(s),
  • Fact File,
  • Interactive Map,
  • Directions
  • and the downloadable Route File.

You will also get our weekly newsletter packed with the latest interesting passes information delivered to your email each Thursday.

Paid subscribers qualify for 10% off the digital downloads from our online shop.

Still not convinced?

You can visit five ‘Open’ pass pages on Mountain Passes South Africa to evaluate what you’ll be getting: