After two days of exploring the beautiful Garden Route and surrounds, marvelling at some of the best views the area has on offer, we headed to the Montagu Pass, promising even more spectacular views.
Viewed as the oldest unaltered pass still in use in South Africa today, this pass was the first proper road between George and Oudtshoorn and was opened in 1848. It took some 250 convicts just over three years to build at a cost of £36 000 and it covers 17.1km of magnificently scenic, narrow gravel road. The pass was built to replace the highly dangerous and extremely difficult Cradock Pass, which still exists today, but only as a challenging hiking trail.
Named after John Montagu, the colonial secretary of the Cape at the time, the location of the pass was first established by Charles Michell, with the actual survey work being done by Dr W Stanger. Construction commenced in 1844 under the supervision of Mr H.O. Farrell before Henry Fancourt took over the project. Born in Covent Garden in 1811, Fancourt went to Australia at age 17 to visit his father, who had been deported. In the process, he gained valuable road-building
