Wyllie's Poort (N1)

Passing through the Soutpansberg, Wyllie's Poort (part of the N1 between Louis Trichardt - Makhado and Musina) boasts a rich archeaological, geological and cultural heritage, and is also a bird-watching hotspot! It lays claim to being the second northern-most tarred pass in South Africa and offers attractive scenery with lots of twists and turns over a distance of 3,57 km with a small altitude drop of just 57 vertical metres.

Scroll down to view the map & video. It is recommended to watch this video in HD. (Click on the "quality" button on the lower taskbar of the video screen and select 720HD). Ignore the 'witches hat' spike in the vertical profile animation of the video, as Google earth cannot read tunnels.

Note: Google Earth software reads the actual topography and ignores roads, cuttings, tunnels, bridges and excavations. The Google Earth vertical-profile animation generates a number of parallax errors, so the profile is only a general guide of what to expect in terms of gradients, distance and elevation. The graph may present some impossible and improbably sharp spikes, which should be ignored.

Digging into the details:

Whether you're a rock-formation armchair-geologist, an expert birder or a rock art enthusiast, this pass will take you there!

The pass is named after Lietenant C.H. Wylie who surveyed it in 1904 before its being built. However, the original pass road (which you can follow easily on the helicopter fly past simulation) has since been replaced by two tunnels. Perfectly placed viewpoints (with parking) can be found just outside the tunnels with endless views out over the Soutpansberg (translated as 'Salt Pans Mountain'.)


Photo: The old road through the poort / Pic courtesy of janne a-f

Louis Trichardt (formerly Trichardtsdorp) is a town at the foot of the Soutpansberg mountain range. It is named after the voortrekker leader Louis Tregardt. It is the centre of the Makhado Local Municipality, which comprises 16,000 km² with a total population of 270,000.

The town is located in a fertile region where litchis, bananas, mangoes and nuts are produced. The national road N1 runs through the town. It is 437 kilometres from Johannesburg and one hour's drive from the Zimbabwean border at Beit Bridge.

Louis Trichardt was known as Makhado for a short period . Vleifontein, Elim, Tshikota, Madombidzha and Makhado Park surrounds the town at all directions. 

Like many other towns in South Africa, Louis Trichardt had its origins in Voortrekker settlement of the area. Two groups of Trekkers reached the Soutpansberg mountain range in 1836, one under the leadership of Louis Tregardt (born near Oudtshoorn, South Africa, 10 August 1783) and another under Hans van Rensburg. Van Rensburg decided to lead his group to Sofala (near current Beira), Mozambique, but his entire party was killed en route.

Trigardt and his group stayed near the mountain, camping near what eventually became the town of Louis Trichardt. They planted crops and started exploring the area northwards in an attempt to locate Van Rensburg and his group. After spending a year in the area, they decided to head for the fort at Delagoa Bay (now Maputo), a journey that took them 7 months to complete, during which more than half the group perished (including Tregardt himself). Other trekkers soon settled nearby, at Schoemansdal, clashing with the Venda people who dwelt there. The town of Trichardtsdorp was finally founded in February 1899.

Above: And the marvels of modern engineering. The two tunnels along Wyllie's Poort allowed road builders to bypass the narrow sections which earlier travellers had to tackle

The southern approach features the N1 heading directly into the north over a wide fairly level plain towards a dark kloof in the mountains ahead. The poort has been carved through the mountains over the millenia by a small, but powerful river, leaving sheer cliffs and many engineering obstacles for the road builders. The original road followed the river through the narrow gorge, but the available space was simply too narrow and far too expensive to cantilever the roadway above the river's maximum flood level.

In time as engineering techniques improved, it was deemed more economical to build two short tunnels on the eastern side of the river, which solved both the width and gradient issues. The road builders had the foresight to build excellent and ample space for tourists to stop and enjoy the dramatic scenery in the poort.

There are 8 sharp corners over the short distance of this pass, with the dangerous ones being being located within the few hundred metres gap between the two tunnels. To add to this danger, there needs to be a rapid adjustment of light, due to the short distances between the tunnels and it should be noted that there is no artificial lighting inside the tunnels. Remember to switch your lights on in the tunnels.

Once you have passed through the northernmost tunnel, it's a further 85 km to the border post at Beit Bridge.

Fact File:

Route Map:

Use these powerful features to get the best use out of the map:

• Choose either Map View or Satellite View (overlaid on the map detail.)
• Zoom in and out; rotate in any direction.
• Use the Get Route'feature (directly beneath the map): type in your address to get a personalised route straight from where you are to the pass, with time and distance included.
• Detailed written and printable directions.
• Drag the 'little orange man' icon onto the pass for a complete 360° tiltable "street view".

Route files:

||Click to download: Wyllie's Poort (Note that this is a .kmz file which can be read in Google earth and most GPS software systems)