Meiringspoort

Meiringspoort (Afrikaans for "Meiring's pass") is a South African mountain pass on the N12 national road, where it crosses the Swartberg mountain range.

The pass is a gateway that connects the Little Karoo and the Great Karoo, through a gorge with a 25 km road crossing the same river 25 times in the span of the 25 km.

It runs between the modern town of Klaarstroom in the north, and the town of De Rust in the south. The mountains it crosses are those of the Swartberg range (Afrikaans for black mountain).

The Swartberg is amongst the best exposed fold mountain chains in the world, and the pass slices through magnificently scenic geological formations. The Swartberg chain runs roughly east-west along the northern edge of the semi-arid area called the Little Karoo in the Western Cape province of South Africa. To the north of the range lies the large semi-arid hinterland of South Africa, the Great Karoo. Much of the Swartberg is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The vast Great Swartberg mountain range formed an almost impenetrable barrier for much of the subcontinent's history - separating the Little Karoo in the south, from the Great Karoo of the arid southern African hinterland. The indigenous Khoi-San people had long inhabited the valleys on both sides of the range, and undoubtedly made successful crossings of these mountains. However these journeys were unfortunately not recorded.

In 1800, a farmer from De Rust in the south made the first successful recorded crossing of this point of the range. His name, Petrus Johannes Meiring, was later commemorated in the name of the pass. Eventually, using the river's low point, he and Gerome Marincowitz, another farmer from the north of the range, even opened up a tiny bridle path, along the "Groote Stroom", which enabled the most intrepid travellers to journey through the mountains. In the coming years, Meiring was extremely active in building the campaign for a pass across the Swartberg.

...
Wikipedia