NATURAL & HISTORICAL SITES

12 : Kloof Pass

Here you are afforded a view of the road snaking up the pass.  This daunting engineering feat was completed in 1988 and provides the traveler with an intimate view of the internal rock structure of the Waterberg plateau.  Be on the lookout: the freshly-cut cliff face provides excellent exposures of the internal structures of the sandstone massif. The combination of nearly horizontal lines and short, arcuate traces on the rock face serves to indicate that the rivers that brought the original sediments to this area almost 2 billion years ago came from a highland to the north-east, on their way to a sea or lake in the south-west.

 The lines were caused by downstream migration of ripples. (Note that the straight vertical grooves were caused by drills during construction of the pass.)  Exercise caution on this scenic and interesting pass;  do not alight from the vehicle except at designated lay-byes as there are numerous blind spots.