Clanwilliam

  • This steep gravel pass descends/ascends the northern end of the Nardousberg mountain - a north/south oriented range to the east of the Olifants River, approximately 40 km north of Clanwilliam. It is the final section of the road that connects the main gravel road to the Bushmans Cave Amphitheatre to the gravel (R363) road on the east side of the Olifants River. The road is maintained to a good standard and providing speed limits are adhered to, all traffic should manage this pass comfortably.

  • An easy tarred pass on the R364 that traverses the Carstenberg mountain and connects Clanwilliam with the West Coast towns of Graafwater and Lamberts Bay. The pass rises 291m over 10,1km producing an easy average gradient of 1:35 with the steepest part being at 1:11. The road is in good condition (2015) and presents few dangers providing speed limits and barrier lines are complied with. This area does get coastal fog on occasion in which case speed needs to be adapted according to visibility and stopping distance.

  • This little known pass is just off the N7 route between Citrusdal and Clanwilliam and offers a tarred road in good condition that rises up the attractive Haarwegskloof with mainly easy curves and fairly comfortable gradients. It's a fairly short pass at 3,2 km and rises 165m in altitude, producing an average gradient of 1:19. The road is suitable for all vehicles.

  • This short, gravel pass is located just north of the Biedouw Valley/Wupperthal turn-off on the R 364. Despite it's relatively low altitude, the views from the summit are well worth stopping for, as the plains of the Karoo stretch out in a seemingly endless horizon dotted with koppies and serried ranks of mountain ridges. In springtime, this is one of the best flower spotting routes. The pass is one of three that lie on the R364 between Clanwilliam (WC) and Nieuwoudtville / Calvinia (NC) - the other two being the Pakhuis Pass to the west and the Botterkloof Pass further to the east. Both are featured on this website.

  • Its claim to fame is that it is the final pass after the Nardouwskloof Passthat delivers motorists to the Cederberg's beautitul Bushmans Cave Amphitheatre. It's named after a nearby peak Kraaibosberg (Crow Bush Mountain) [633,7m] which can be seen to your right at the start of the pass. At 3,6 km this pass is fairly short and it descends a substantial 250m producing an average gradient of 1:14 which places it fairly high up on the national rankings in terms of steepness.

  • This 7,8 km attractive gravel pass has a substantial altitude drop of 494m as it descends from the Elandsfontein farm through the Kransvleikloof following the course of a small river amongst high crags through a cool and shady kloof. It terminates at a T-junction with the N7 highway. There is some confusion about the name of the kloof with some references calling it the Jakkalsvleikloof. The official government maps show the higher section of the kloof to be Kransvleikloof, followed by the lower section, which is named Jakkalsvleikloof. Then to add fuel to the fire, the next section after the gravel road joins the N7, is again called Kransvleikloof. The last farm along the descent on the right hand side of the road is also called Kransvleikloof. So, for the puposes of this website and having to give this pass an indexed name, we are going with Kransvleikloof.

  • Many references to this kloof and pass have dropped the "w" from the original Dutch name and simply use the more local (Afrikaans) version of Nardouskloof.The pass heads in a north easterly direction away from the Olifants River and Bulshoek dam up a natural cleft in the Nardouwsberg to summit at the farm of the same name at the top of the mountain plateau. This is also the pass one takes to get to the well known Bushman's Cave Amphitheatre. It is suitable for all vehicles and the steepest part in the middle is tarred, which solves traction issues in wet weather.

  • The Pakhuis Pass (meaning 'packing shed' in Afrikaans) begins just outside Clanwilliam, connecting it with the Karoo town of Calvinia and beyond. The pass's surveyor and builder, Thomas Bain, was an incredibly energetic man of many talents, which included art, rock paintings, geology, cartography and engineering. This is a major pass which has recently been fully tarred over its entire length and offers a wide variety of scenery, grave sites, weathered rock formations, picnic sites and some of the Cederberg's finest hiking trails.

    The pass is suitable for all vehicles but do comply with the speed limits, especially along the northern switchback section, where the gradients are quite steep and the corners (although nicely radiused by the road builders), are quite sharp. The pass is in the Top 20 passes nationally in terms of its length (26,4 km)  and has a big altitude gain of 824m. Most of the new road follows Thomas Bain's original lines.

  • This lovely gravel pass runs along the east/west axis through the mountains between the farming areas along the R365 in the west, with the Kransvleikloof Pass to the east, near N7 close to Clanwilliam in the Sandveld region of the West Coast. The region is well known for the production of potatoes and in this kloof, with its own micro-climate, many farms also produce citrus products, similar to the Olifants River valley a few kilometers further to the east.