Bain's Passes

Storms River Pass

ThomasDocumented

Built by Thomas in the same joint project as Bloukrans and Grootrivier. Last of the three finished.

Old N2Route
5.8 kmLength
190 mSummit
Gravel / overgrown pavementSurface

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Before you go

Closed to vehicles just beyond Storms River village. Open on foot and by mountain bike, on a good gravel surface. Check with SANParks before you go.

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

Thomas arrived in 1879 and surveyed what was then called Zitzikama, following old elephant migration paths to find the easiest way down to the Storms River. The road was built with compasses, theodolites, gunpowder and a great deal of convict labour, and the village of Storms River was laid out soon after. It was so narrow that two ox wagons could not pass, so traffic ran on alternating "up days" and "down days", and travellers sometimes waited overnight at the grassy outspan beside the river.

The old road runs through Plaatbos Forest in the Tsitsikamma section of Garden Route National Park. Vehicles are barred just beyond the village, so it is a walk or a mountain-bike ride. Three colour-coded walking trails (yellow 8 km, red 7.5 km, green 5 km) are free, and a 22 km gravel cycle route drops about 5 km to the river, crosses a low-water bridge and climbs to a viewpoint over Storms River Mouth. Along the way you can see Bain's hand-laid rockwork, culverts and a boardwalk that drained water off the road, a stream running over the road where an original bypass seems to have collapsed, and a SANParks viewing deck at the elephant path. A big Cape hard pear known as "Uncle Sam" stands beside the road. The brown stream water is tannin from fynbos and forest humus, not pollution. Ross's chronology gives Thomas Bain as completing it in 1885 (Storrar 1984).

History

Built by
Built by Thomas in the same joint project as Bloukrans and Grootrivier. Last of the three finished.
Built
Started 1879; finished 1885.
Location
Old N2, Stormsriver, Eastern Cape
Later work
Bypassed.Paul Sauer Bridge opened 1964; the pass is now used by mountain bikers.
Notes
Now disused for vehicular transit since 1964; open for mountain biking and hiking. Firefly Africa (May 2025) says the pass was completed by 1884, while the card keeps the 1879 to 1885 span from the earlier source. It could not confirm who built the low-water bridge or when, so no builder is given.

Find it

Pin
-33.98880, 23.91180
Open in
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Sources

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