Black River Pass/Swartrivierpas
Black River Pass/Swartrivierpas - Photo: Trygve Roberts

The historic "Seven Passes" route between George and Knysna includes the Black River Pass or 'Swartrivier Pass' or in it's original format "Zwartrivierhoogte Pass"- a modern, tar road with smooth, sweeping bends making this pass seem almost effortless as it runs from the main road in George past the imposing Garden Route dam wall to cross over the Swartrivier and quickly rise up to the neck at Saasveld via a big S-bend.  The original pass was first used circa 1853.

 

 

The full content of this article is restricted to subscribers.

Subscribe for only R495 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 (12 months)

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)

For those who need to only use the website for a single trip or a short time frame, we now also offer a 6 month convenience subscription at R395.

Subscribe Now (6 months)

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: