Bain's Passes

Grootrivier Pass

ThomasDocumented

Built by Thomas as part of the Tsitsikamma road with Bloukrans and Storms River.

R102Route
6.2 kmLength
210 mSummit
Tarred(R102)Surface

See it on the mapLog your drive

Before you go

Narrow tarred coastal gorge pass; sharp bends and steep gradients into Nature's Valley.

Road conditions change with weather, floods, fires and roadworks. Check the latest conditions with the road authority or local tourism office before you leave, and carry offline maps.

About this pass

The old R102 leaves the N2 and drops into Nature's Valley down Kalanderkloof, in a series of twists, turns and hairpins through dense Afro-montane Tsitsikamma forest. The ravine views open between the trees, and the road is well kept, which makes the descent a pleasure. About a kilometre before the foot of the pass stands Bernardo's yellowwood, a giant tree named after the forestry worker Hendrik Bernardo, who stopped it being felled. At the bottom a small bridge crosses the Groot River, with a picnic site on its east side. A right turn leads into Nature's Valley, where the Otter Trail ends at the De Vasselot Nature Reserve.

Thomas built Grootrivier together with Bloukrans, a pair of passes on the old coastal road. Drive it in daylight; morning light reaches down into the gorge. There are pull-offs at the summit for views, and Plettenberg Bay has accommodation for an overnight stay. Bloukrans Pass, the next one east, is often closed and not well maintained. Ross describes the Tsitsikamma road as 185 km (Bain's own record says 70 miles), linking the western and eastern Colony through the coastal forests and crossing the Groot, Bobbejaans, Bloukrans and Storms River gorges; the old route below the new toll freeway gives spectacular views.

History

Built by
Built by Thomas as part of the Tsitsikamma road with Bloukrans and Storms River.
Built
Finished 1880. Two sources differ (1880 and 1883) with no tie-breaker; 1880 is used because it is the completion date in the pass's own article.
Location
R102, Nature's Valley, Western Cape
Later work
Rebuilt.Major reconstruction of both sections in 2010.Bypassed.N2 freeway bridges opened June 1984.
Notes
One account says Thomas reconnoitred the route and could not start for about ten years. Ross (2001) says the Great Fire of 1869 cleared the forest and made it possible for Bain to push his Tsitsikamma road through 'in the late 1880s'; the sources used for this entry date the passes 1879–85, so that phrase is treated as loose. South Africa Field Guide places the pass on the N2; it is on the old road off the N2 (R102), as on this card. Neither sa-venues nor South Africa Field Guide gives a length, summit, date or surface.

Find it

Pin
-33.96570, 23.56160
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Sources

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