Barkly Pass is situated in the high mountains of the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, on the Regional R58 tarred road between Elliot and

Barkly East Barkly East (Afrikaans: Barkly-Oos) is a town in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, seat of the Joe Gqabi District Municipality, and 117 km by road E.S.E. of Aliwal North, lying in the mountainous area just south of Lesotho. The town lies ...

History

The pass is named after

Henry Barkly Sir Henry Barkly (24 February 1815 – 20 October 1898) was a British politician, colonial governor and patron of the sciences. Early life and education Born on 24 February 1815 at Highbury, Middlesex (now London), he was the eldest son of Su ...

, governor of the Cape. It was constructed in 1885.

Route

The pass starts a few kilometres outside Elliot at

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

and ascends moderately steep at a gradient of 1:22 attaining an elevation gain of in a distance of .Mountain Passes South Africa - Barkly Pass
/ref> After a few sharp hairpin bends it reaches an elevation of at the summit. The pass is subject to frequent winter snow closures.

References

Mountain passes of the Eastern Cape {{EasternCape-geo-stub