The Swartberg Mountains

The Swartberg mountains are regarded as one of the “finest exposed fold mountain chains in the world. They are composed of two main mountain chains running roughly east–west along the northern edge of the Little Karoo. The two are appropriately called  The Smaller and The Greater Swartberg Mountains. The smaller of the two is to the west and is in fact the higher range of peaks, This range includes the province’s highest peak, Seweweekspoortpiek (Seven Weeks Gorge Peak) at 2325 m. The famous Towerkop (Bewitch Peak)  is 2189 m. The Greater Swartberg is to the east, with the dividing line between the two ranges being the Gamka River, which cuts a gorge through the mountains. The Cango caves are found within this range in the exposed limestone basement rocks exposed by upliftment along a 300 km fault

.Most of the Swartberg Mountains are above 2000 m high, making them the tallest mountains in the Western Cape mountain range is 230 km long running from Laingsberg to Uniondale. The Swartberg Mountains are part of the Cape Fold Belt.

Until the first pass was cut, these mountains were virtually impassable. The little Karoo was cut off from the Great Karoo. In 1854 John Molteno (who later became Prime minister) surveyed the range with the purpose of cutting a pass through the mountains

The Meiringspoort pass was cut and the route was completed in only 223 working days It was of the most extraordinary feats of engineering of the time.

Today several different passes now cut through different routes in the range. The  Seweweekspoort is to the far west in the Klein Swartberge, It was built by a team of convicts without engineers and was begun in 1859. The work was finally completed in 1862

The best-known route through the mountains is the  Swartberg Pass, which runs between Oudtshoorn and Prince Albert. The pass was built by Thomas Bain, son of the famous Andrew Geddes Bain who built Bain’s Kloof Pass. It was built using convict labour and opened on 10 January 1888.