As the Dutch boeren trekked ever eastwards in order to escape from authority, they encountered an enemy of a different kind: a series of rivers in steep defiles. The one solution was to bypass them by traversing the Langkloof route. The final challenges were the Gamtoos and Van Stadens Rivers.  The Gamtoos was the easier foe as it could be crossed by making a turn to the north. The Van Staden river was a foe of superior mein. 

Van Stadens Pass is a passage through the gorge of the Van Stadens River and is locally  known as the iPospathi – the  post road, for it was with the opening of the pass that post was conveyed by way of the road for more than a century.

Main picture: Crossing the drift in 1870

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