The Suurberg (also Zuurberg or Suurberge) is a mountain range near the
Addo Elephant National Park in the southern
Sarah Baartman District Municipality 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. The range of some 70 kilometres long (west to east) is situated at the eastern end of the
Cape Fold Belt
The Cape Fold Belt (CFB) is a long fold-and-thrust mountain belt along the western and southern coastlines of Western Cape, South Africa. The Cape Fold Belt formed during the Permian period (300 to 250million years ago) in the late Paleozoic ...
, and rises just north of the towns of
Kirkwood and Bontrug (in the
Sundays River Valley), and
Paterson further east.
Its rugged terrain is intersected by many defiles and ridge lines, rising from some 200 m
a.s.l. in the south to 936 m a.s.l. The southern slopes are drained by various tributaries of the
Sundays River, including the Kabouga, Uie, Wit and
Krom rivers.
Two passes cross the mountain from south to north, namely the
Suurberg Pass and
Olifantskop Pass
Olifantskop Pass () is situated in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It carries three to four lanes of road traffic on the N10 road (South Africa), N10 national road over the Suurberg mountains between Paterson, South Africa, Paterson an ...
.
''
Oldenburgia grandis'' and the
Suurberg cycad are striking plants that are endemic to the mountain range and its vicinity.
Endemic Suurberg cycads in a valley of the Suurberg, centerArtefacts discovered in the
Melkhoutboom Cave are thought to be 15 000 years old.
References
{{reflist
Mountain ranges of the Eastern Cape