obscure roads

This rough poort of 1,7 km in length traverses a natural gap in the mountains about 24 km east of Klaarstroom. Some of the ascending up the northern side has gradients of 1:10, but once the middle point is reached at the 0,6 km point, it's fairly level from there onwards. There are wonderful views of the Groot Swartberg mountains to the south as you crest the summit. The road leads to the Haggas farm, about 1,5 km beyond the southern end of the poort. This is a poort for the more serious pass hunter and forms an out and back route, although are there a number of circular options if you want to explore the area in more depth.

This is a basic farm road and is sometimes little more than a jeep track. We recommend being in a 4WD vehicle or at least in a high clearance bakkie. This is a dead-end road, so you will need to retrace your route back to the R407.

This is a remote and 'off the beaten track' poort 40 km to the east of Kamieskroon. There is a small tricky section near the summit, but for most of the rest of this poort it's fairly easy going with very few sharp corners. There is a fair amount of soft sand and in the summer months, vehicles without 4WD might well experience traction issues here. The poort is 5,7 km long and displays an altitude variance of 138m, which converts into an easy average gradient of 1:41. The steeper parts near the summit are at 1:7. The big attraction to drive this remote poort is the substantial quiver tree forest that it traverses.

Many respected resources on the internet list Baillie's Pass (Bailey's Pass sic) with Pypmaker se Poort in brackets as the alternative name. This is completely incorrect, as Pypmaker se Poort, although fairly close to Baillie's Pass, is on a different road altogether. The only site that got this one right, is Tracks4Africa. Also note the correct spelling of Baillie.