Western Cape: Meiringspoort Pass remains closed until further notice! [update]

update (13 June 2024): The Greater Oudtshoorn Municipality in South Africa's Western Cape has anniunced that Meiringspoort will be opened at 17:00, 13 June 2024. The restrooms will remain closed due to damage. Travelling through Meiringspoort must be done at a lowered speed and with utmost caution.

The Greater Oudtshoorn Municipality in South Africa's Western Cape has announced that the Meiringspoort Pass, one of the most scenic mountain passes in South Africa, remains closed until further notice due to extensive construction works. Significant repairs are underway, including the rebuilding of sections of the road as well as addressing hazardous ditches formed along the riverbanks. These conditions pose a serious danger to motorists, necessitating the closure. The Pass and other roads in and around Oudtshoorn were closed due to heavy rains which caused flooding and rockfalls last week.

Meiringspoort is a mountain pass on the N12 in South Africa's Western Cape, 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.

CapeNature: The Swartberg & Anysberg Nature Reserves are now linked

Two of CapeNature's biggest nature reserves in the Karoo, the Anysberg Nature Reserve and the Swartberg Nature Reserve, are now linked. The 12 800ha property connecting the two reserves, known as Grand Canyon, is extending the protected area to a size of 215 044ha and to an east-west stretch of land of about 280 km.
According to CapeNature, the new landscape corridor between the two reserves will help to restore landscape connectivity and will benefit the species living in the area, such as leopards, by increasing their home ranges and food resources. It will also help to reconnect fragmented and isolated animal and plant populations.
CapeNature's biggest nature reserve, the Swartberg Nature Reserve, lies in the Oudtshoorn district between the Great and Little Karoo, while the Anysberg Nature Reserve is situated between Montagu and Laingsburg.