Wildflowers near the pass
Wildflowers near the pass - Photo: Wikipedia

The Elandskloof Pass is a comfortable tarred pass, designated route R303 and is the prequel (or sequel depending on your direction of travel)) to the much more dramatic Middelberg Pass when travelling from north to south between Citrusdal and the Koue Bokkeveld. A substantial plateau lies between these two passes and the farm Elandskloof lies at the southern end of the pass and is where the pass took its name from. Despite the easy gradients and gentle corners, it is a very old pass dating back to the 18th Century and was first a sheep trekking route, but has been modernised and realigned several times over the past 150 years. It should be noted that there are 3 passes with  variants of this name in the Western Cape - the other two being near Villiersdorp and the Gamkaskloof respectively.

The pass contains 18 bends, corners and curvers within its 7,1 km length gaining 338m which produces an average gardient of 1:21 and it never gets steeper than 1:11. There are three bends with major angles of up to 150 degrees, but all of them have wide turning arcs rendering them quite safe providing speed limits are complied with.

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Note: Conditions can change over time. These guides are designed for planning and familiarisation, so there are fewer surprises on the day.

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