Prince Albert
scenic drives
tel: +27 (0)23 5411 366 fax: +27 (0)23
5411 788 e-mail: princealberttourism@intekom.co.za
All drives are taken at your own risk -
please ask for latest road condition updates at the Prince Albert Tourism
Association office or the police station
Click to find out more
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Prince Albert - Swartberg Pass -
Meiringspoort - Prince Albert
Dramatic sunsets on the Weltevrede
road
Anglo-Boer War routes
100's of birds at the Gamkapoort
Dam - 4 x 4 drive
 |  Why not take a day drive over the
Swartberg Pass (well maintained gravel road changes to tar at
foot of the pass on the Oudtshoorn side) to the Cango Caves, then home to Prince Albert
through De Rust and Meiringspoort
(fully tarred) -
a magnificent experience.
Spectacular scenery in
the Swartberg Pass
click on picture to
enlarge
On this side
of Meiringspoort, turn into Klaarstroom. You can stop
for tea at the Klaarstroom
Tea Room and Koffie Kombuis - if the sign is up outside the guest
house in the morning or afternoon, feel free to drop in for ... tea
and cake, coffee and rusks, a milkshake, breakfast or any
combination of the above that tickles your fancy! Tel:
023 5411 474 or 082 4888 370
|
Your route can be varied as you travel between the Swartberg
Pass and Oudtshoorn - you can turn off at the Cango-oord road (gravel road in poor state of repair).which will take you past the
Rus en Vrede Waterfall towards Oude Muragie and onto the tar road to De
Rust.
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| Head down Pastoriestraat and out along the gravel road
(well maintained). You pass through typical
Karoo landscape: brush covered plains, rocky
kloofs, stony river beds.
Watch out for the varied bird-life, buck, lizards and tortoises. You will eventually
come to a T-
junction
with the tarred road to Beaufort West (left) and Meiringspoort and
Klaarstroom (right).
|
The subtle colours of the Karoo
click on picture to enlarge
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| Gamkapoort Dam - built in the 1960's this wide expanse of
water in the middle of the Karoo is home to hundreds of birds. You need a
4 x 4 vehicle or a vehicle with plenty of height for this drive as you will cross sandy and rocky river beds
and the Gamka River can run strongly at times.
|
Drive out along Margariet Prinsloo Street, the gravel road past
the tannery. The road runs parallel to the Swartberg and
you pass through several farms before you reach the Nature Reserve. Please
remember to close all gates behind you. Once you reach the reserve see
the pile of 1960's cars and
the ruins of the thriving village which housed the workers while the
dam was built, then drive on - keeping to the left, until you reach the
water. 
The road towards the
Gamkapoort Dam
click on picture to enlarge
There are simple picnic sites equipped with rubbish bins. Experience
the sounds of silence, see buck and baboons - and watch birds fishing
against the spectacular backdrop of the dinosaur-shaped mountains. (+/-
100km round trip) This route also offers tremendous sunsets. Fish
Eagles are now nesting near the dam.
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| You MUST take a drive along the Weltevrede Valley road
to see the sunset.
About 25km along the gravel road you drive through a small pass. At its summit
look down towards the Weltevrede
fig farm
and back towards Prince Albert. As the sun sets the mountains behind are
transformed, passing
through every shade of blue to the deepest purple,
while ahead of you the sun strikes peaks and clouds with
golden-orange and sultry-pink hues. Drive home beneath our
sparkling, star-filled Karoo sky.
You can stay in the Weltevrede Valley in houses dating from
the 19th Century - CLICK here
for details
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| Helena Marincowitz identified two Anglo-Boer War
routes, one to the
north and the other to the south of Prince Albert. Visitors can follow the steps
of the local commando's, see the sites of skirmishes and the graves of
those who lost their lives. (farm roads generally gravel, parts of each route
follow tar roads - including a section along the N1) Full details in Prince Albert and the Anglo-Boer
War 1899 - 1902 available from the Fransie Pienaar Museum and the Tourism Association Office.
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In Klaarstroom, after visiting two Anglo-Boer War
graves, you might stop for tea at the Klaarstroom
Tea Room and Koffie Kombuis - if the sign is up outside the guest
house in the morning or afternoon, feel free to drop in for ... tea
and cake, coffee and rusks, a milkshake, breakfast or any
combination of the above that tickles your fancy! Tel:
023 5411 474 or 082 4888 370
|
