The Bloukrans Pass of the Onder-Bokkeveld region, is located in

Tsitsikamma National Park The Tsitsikamma National Park is a protected area on the Garden Route, Western Cape and Eastern Cape, South Africa. It is a coastal reserve well known for its indigenous forests, dramatic coastline, and the Otter Trail. On 6 March 2009 it was a ...

on the R355 road between Ceres and

Calvinia Calvinia is a regional town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa named after the French people, French religious reformer Jean Calvin. The town falls under the Hantam Local Municipality which forms part of the Namakwa District Municipalit ...

, in the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape ( ; ; ) is the largest and most sparsely populated Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley, South Africa, Kimberley. It includes ...

province of

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 ...

. It navigates the lower slopes of the Bloukrans Mountain on its eastern shoulder, and has the Nuwewater se berg on its western side. The Bloukrans Mountain is the northern promontory of the Roggeveld Mountains. The name means "blue cliff" in Afrikaans and may refer to the nearby Bloukrans River. The road through the pass was constructed by

Thomas Charles John Bain Thomas Charles John Bain (29 September 1830, in Graaff-Reinet – 29 September 1893) was a South African road engineer. As a prolific road building pioneer, Bain was responsible for the planning and construction of more than 900 km of road ...

in 1884. Its construction was made possible by the Great Fire of 1869, which made it possible for the first time to run a road through the formerly impenetrable Tsitsikamma Forest. It was incorporated into the national road system in the mid-20th century. It served as a major travel route from 1951 until 1984 when it was superseded by the N2 tollway.

References

{{coord, 31, 40, 10, S, 19, 44, 58, E, type:landmark_region:ZA, display=title Mountain passes of the Western Cape Mountain passes of the Northern Cape