Extreme Mountain Passes

South Africa's top 100 passes ranked in altitude gained (metres):

We have hyperlinked the Top 10 so you can click straight through to any of the passes.

The top 100 highest passes in South Africa: (in meters above sea level)

We have hyperlinked the Top 10 for your 'one click' convenience

South Africa's 100 longest passes in kilometers - listed from longest to shortest. These statistics are regularly updated as new passes are listed.

Please note that although Prince Alfreds Pass comes 2nd on our table, it remains the longest pass as the Baviaans-Kouga is not a proper road in many sections (jeep track only) and it crosses private and state land requiring a permit, therefore does not qualify as a 'publicly accessible road' by definition. We have hyperlinked the top 10 for your convenience and an easy click through.

On this page we list the 50 most popular passes according to the number of page views on the Mountain Passes South Africa website. (Note that passes loaded in 2012 would naturally have more views than those produced later)

These are a reflection of your preferences.

South Africa's top 100 steepest passes - expressed in height : distance ratio  (eg 1:8). Note that these are AVERAGE gradients. Sections of each pass could be much steeper. For example Prince Alfred's Pass in the Western Cape is 68 km long and has an average gradient of 1:96, but it has certain sections as steep as 1:8. As a consequence of simple mathematics, the shorter passes present steeper average gradients than the longer passes. Statistics should always be read in context.

This page deals with the phenomenal contribution to road building of the father son team of Andrew and Thomas Bain. We list all the passes that both these men built or assisted in building and provide direct hyperlinks to those passes. There are very few complete lists in existence of all the works including railway construction, bridges and other roads (other than passes). The most comprehensive research on this subject that we could find, was that of Dr. Graham Ross - a noted 'modern' padmaker himself, who has spent many years of his retirement researching the history of South African roads. Much of what you read here has been adapted from Dr Ross's meticulous research.

With so much data available to us, we sometimes come across weird names, and odd statistics which we list in this category. For example, there are four Ouberg Passes, as well as six Langkloof passes (the most popular pass names)and as many Rooiberg passes. There are those with short names and long names. This page is a compilation of interesting and unusual passes. We add to these categories as information becomes available.