The crown prince of mountain passes

The Prince Alfred Pass is the finest 68 km of road engineer Thomas Bain's life's work. Drive it to the Garden Route from the Klein Karoo.

- Cyril Klopper

The tiny town of Avontuur, home to just 238 people, lies on the rain-shadow side of the Outeniqua Mountains in the Western Cape. The name 'Avontuur' sounds like a promise of what lies ahead, but it actually means something else. In Place Names of South Africa, researcher Ann Gadd explains that the town was named after a nearby river, whose Khoi name lui//ai means "evening time" – which in Dutch became avonduur (evening hour).

About 4 km south of Avontuur, you'll reach Die Kruin (the Summit) and, as the name suggests, it's the highest point of the pass at 1 035 m above sea level. There's ample space to pull over if you want to stop for photos.

The Prince Alfred Pass was surveyed in 1857 by Andrew Geddes Bain and his son Thomas. Father and son spent months in the mountains, using old elephant trails to pick the best line up the slopes. Three years later, young Bain and a crew of 250 convicts armed with pickaxes, hammers, saws and spades tackled the mountainside, completing the pass in just four years – and you're still driving it almost exactly as they built it.

After Die Kruin, the road winds through a series of sharp bends with charming names like Rooielsdraai, Kouewaterdraai and Tiekieliefdraai. The last one is a corruption of the English “Ticket of Leave”. The convicts struggled with English, and one of the few things they looked forward to after months or even years of forced labour was a “tiekielief”.

The steep descent starts to level out about 12 km from Avontuur. Look closely at the dry-stone retaining walls supporting the road — they've been standing firm for 160 years, untouched since Thomas Bain and his men packed them. The road narrows here, and there will be times you need to pull over to let oncoming traffic pass. Uphill traffic has right of way.