Cogmans Kloof

Cogmans Kloof outside Montagu is one of the famous landmarks on Route 62 through the Klein Karoo.  The Cogmans Kloof Pass passes through a poort (a poort being defined as a path through a mountain range) which runs through the Langeberg between Ashton and Montagu.  The first white farmers in the area were allocated farms from 1725 onwards and the original road through the poort was a dangerous one alongside the Kingna River which incorporates eight hazardous drifts.  To get around Kalkoenkrantz the wagons had to actually travel in the riverbed itself.  This route was very susceptible to flooding.  Authorisation was given to built a road in 1861 with work only starting in 1867, stopping again in 1870.  Thomas Bain, son of Andrew Geddes Bain, surveyed the pass and work was restarted in 1873 with the biggest job being to blast a tunnel through Kalkoenkrantz.  Up to that time blasting was generally done with gunpowder, but the Cogmanskloof tunnel, which is 16 metres long and had a 5 metre high roof, became the first time in South Africa that a tunnel was blasted using dynamite.

Tsitsikamma Forest Trail Part 3: Up the old pass

The first part of our walk through the Plaatbos Nature Reserve took us on various trails through the forest before taking a halfway break next to the Storms River by the old low water bridge.  This left us with the walk back up to the village on the Storms River Pass.

 

In 1879 the famous pass builder Thomas Bain was busy surveying the area east of Plettenberg Bay and found it to consist of almost impenetrable forests and deep river gorges.  To get through the imposing Storms River gorge, Bain followed the ancient elephant trails which took the easiest and most gradual way down towards the river and built the road along those contoars.  The pass was built by convicts and completed in 1884.  Travelling down the pass some of those ancient trails can still be spotted next to the road. 

A kilometer or so before the end we crossed another stream and couldn't help stopping again for a break.  The Kidz had their shoes off immediately to enjoy the fresh forest stream.

I took the opportunity to trek up and down the stream a bit for a couple of pictures capturing one of my favorite things - a forest stream.

The end was in sight and nobody was complaining.  It was an awesome morning out and we topped it off with ice cream sundaes at Marilyns Diner in the village.

Cogmans Kloof

When you mention Montagu to somebody who has passed through the area before, one of the first things that will pop into their heads will be Cogmans Kloof and the tunnel through the rocks.  Cogmans Kloof is often seen as the gateway to the Klein Karoo and runs through a gorge with some of the most amazing geological features in the Western Cape.  The original route through the mountain included two fairly dangerous river crossings.  Famed road and pass builder Thomas Bain was commissioned to build the pass through Cogmans Kloof in 1877 and blasted the tunnel through in 1879.  

On top of the tunnel stands an old English fort built in 1899 during the Anglo Boer War.  I have seen the fort whenever I passed through Cogmans Kloof, but I've never been up to it.  During our visit to Montagu I drove to the tunnel one morning and as I stopped I saw a couple of guys climb up to the top.  I was kinda wondering how to get up to the top and this answered my question.

Huffing and puffing I made my way to the top, even tearing my pants sliding over a rock, but I made it.  The fort has an awesome view and you can see why it was built there in the first place.