Gydo Pass (R303), Ceres

The Gydo Pass was built at the same time as Michells Pass by Andrew Geddes Bain and his team of convict labourers circa 1848. This important pass connected the Warm Bokkeveld with the higher altitude Koue Bokkeveld, as well as the remote, but fertile (and therefore lucrative) Witzenberg Valley a few kilometers west of the head of the pass.

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Digging into the details:

Getting there: From Ceres head north=west out of town on the R303 on the Cirusdal road via Prince Alfred Hamlet for a total of 5 km to arrive at the southern end of the pass. We filmed the pass from the opposite direction due to available lighting, so anyone wanting to approach this pass from the north, will need to drive the long route from Citrusdal on the R303 over the triple passes of Elandskloof (Tar), Middelberg (Tar & gravel) and Buffelshoek (Gravel) -  then past the small settlement of Op die Berg to arrive at the northern start of the pass. This distance is approximately 90 km.

Stop and take in some of nature's beauty at one of the viewsites / Photo: WikipediaThe pass was completed in 1848. Translated from the indigenous and ancient Khoi language, 'gydo', means 'steep passage'. There are other references to the origins of the name "Gydo" which suggest that the name is derived from the Euphorbia plant which grows on the slopes of the Skurweberg nearby.

The small village of Prince Alfred Hamlet lies at the foot of the pass. Some years ago this pass was utilised for vehicle hill-climb racing, which was enormously popular, attracting large crowds. Inevitably, a spectator was seriously injured which put a permament end to the event. The race was known as "King of the Mountains" and the last disastrous race took place in 2008, much to the dismay of local motor racing fans. 

The pass provides magnificent scenery as it twists and turns through the ravines of the mountain on its way down to the Warm Bokkeveld and Prince Alfreds Hamlet. The pass is usually closed to traffic a couple of times during winter when snowfalls make the pass dangerous.

An old photograph circa 1935 when the pass was still gravel / Source: Hilton T The town of Ceres virtually comes to a standstill when the first winter snow storms arrive, as thousands of city folk descend on the little town to enjoy the snow - for many it is a first time event in their lives!

If the snow falls just before a weekend, things can get quite chaotic with gridlocked traffic stretching back as far as the foot of Michells Pass in the south - some 10 kms out of town. There are a number of passes that lead into the beautiful Ceres Valley, besides the Gydo Pass. To the south there is Michells Pass; to the north - Theronsberg Pass - which takes traffic back to the N1 and Sutherland and finally the Swaarmoed Pass and Bo-Swaarmoed passes, which lie to the north-east of the town, which rise up towards the mighty Matroosberg Peak and accesses some lovely farms like Klondike Cherry farm and the well known Matroosberg 4x4 route up into the snowfields.

The town is aptly named after the Roman goddess of Agriculture. The name is synonomous with fruit juice and the valley provides the bulk of the South African market with Ceres fruit juice products. There are many other crops grown there including vast plantations of onions on the upper pateau (Koue Bokkeveld) as well as some excellent vineyards.

Gydo Pass curves and corners as we know it today / Photo: PanoramioSouth Africa is one of the most stable parts of the world in seismic terms but on the 29th of September 1969, a massive shock shook the district without warning. The epicentre of the quake was on a major local structure called the Worcester fault, which had clearly been geologically active in the distant past but had not moved in over three hundred years of recorded history. Ceres was affected badly. Many old Cape Dutch buildings were damaged and some lives were lost. The quake was strong enough to knock plaster off walls in Cape Town, 160 kilometers away.

Michells Pass was severly damaged and had to be closed, causing major access problems for the town. Ceres experiences a typical Mediterranean climate tempered by its altitude. The town experiences warmer temperatures in summer, due to its inland location with infrequent rainfall, however winters are cool to quite cold and wet, with frequent snowfalls on the surrounding higher-lying ground, rarely falling on the valley floor itself. 

Fact File:

Route Map:

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Route files:

||Click to download: Gydo Pass   (Note - This is a .kmz file which can be opened in Google earth and most GPS software systems)