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The
Swartberg range was once considered impenetrable, today
there are three routes linking the Great Karoo with the
Little Karoo and the coast: The Swartberg Pass,
Meiringspoort and Seweweekspoort. The Swartberg Loop
takes you through two of them - Meiringspoort and the
Swartberg Pass. Both are on Prince Albert's doorstep, and
with their awesome beauty and many opportunities for
recreation, should be on every visitor's itinerary.
Leave
Route 62 at Calitzdorp Oudtshoorn or De Rust. This will
bring you through some of the most breathtaking mountain
scenery in South Africa to the Southern edge of the Great
Karoo where you will discover the small town of Prince
Albert nestling at the foot of the mighty Swartberg. This
massive range forms the Southern edge of the African
continental plate. Its tortured rock formations thrusting
high above the plains bear’s timeless testimony to the
ancient tectonic collisions of a world in the making.
Here, the Creator had fun. The great symphonic swirls of
multi-hued sandstone strata cut through by deep ravines
separate the narrow terraces of the Little Karoo from the
great interior plateau named “The Dry Country” of
Karoo by the ancient San people. Explorers, writers and
artists of past centuries: la Vaillant, Lawrence Green,
Pierneef, Schreiner – have traversed these plains and
captured the dramatic impact and magic of its landscapes
and wildlife in words and pictures for generations of
travellers to come.
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