Seweweekspoort citizens on the road

The panoramic Seweweekspoort Mountain Pass links Zoar in the west of the Little Karoo to Laingsburg in the Great Karoo. This is eighteen km of meandering gravel road through geologically majestic rocky heights, their slopes covered in botanical riches that intrigue admirers.

No surprise that significant land conservation ventures are in place here over the treasured solitude, notably the Gamkapoort Nature Reserve, the Towerkop Nature Reserve and the Swartberg Nature Reserve. Holism links some bits into the Swartberg Mountain Complex culminating in a certified Unesco World Heritage Site in the region for enhancing biodiversity care. This shows the best side of humanity right here in our midst, warming the heart.

The Buffels River flows where its course was established so many millions of years ago, eating into rock and displacing soil from seasonal rain intermittently. It joins the equally picturesque Gamka River and later unwittingly changes name into the Gourits River, further downstream and to the sea.

Intricate sandstone formations and contorted rock folds catch untold eyes, as do the river crossings that bring comment and awe. Apart from the itinerant troop of baboons the traveller might spot a vigilant klipspringer, usually some dassies in the distance for the sharp-eyed and above, on a good day a Verreaux's eagle. Leopard lurking out of sight? The baboons will know!

Multitudes of indigenous shrubs keep their identities secret behind visitor ignorance and a copious covering of the dust from passing vehicles near the road. Could that be a Tylecodon, a Euphorbia? The little one surely a Crassula? No, the pointed leaf one is an Aloe! Unless rain has washed them clean and people recognise plants they haven’t seen in years.