It was late afternoon when I first drove up into the mountains above the small Western Cape town and the sun lit up the mountains in fiery gold. Surrounded by dramatic rock formations, I had the strange impression that I had passed through an invisible barrier and entered a realm where the gigantic boulders were alive and had gathered in small groups to catch up with friends, hear the latest news and keep an eye on their mountain kingdom. 

This otherworldly feeling captivates me every time I visit and stays with me along the whole 40km route, which includes the section known as Agter Pakhuis. The journey begins after Clanwillliam as the road snakes into the rugged northern Cederberg mountains and continues to Engelsman se graf, commemorating British officer Lieutenant Graham Vinicombe Winchester Clowes who was killed in an engagement with the Boers in 1901. The grave flanked by a gnarled tree is the final landmark before the road becomes gravel and continues to Calvinia. This is also the turnoff to the Biedouw Valley and Wupperthal, which beckon with additional adventure. 

Magic and mystery

Pakhuis holds a history of ox wagons that made their way over the mountains before the pass was built by Thomas Bain in 1874 to link Clanwilliam to the farming region of Calvinia. The sandstone rocks piled on top of each other like crates in a packing shed have given it its unusual and apt name, “Pakhuis”. Stories of ghosts linger from this period when horses would whinny and snort, coming to a sudden halt, refusing to pass through rocky passageways where spirits lurked. These add to the magic that weaves its way along the pass with Bushman renderings and tales of indigenous plants used by the Khoisan to cure all manner of ailment, body and soul.

Rocklands bouldering mecca

Pakhuis sights and treats begin as you wind your way up along the twists and turns of the pass to an elevation of 904m. One of the first places to pause is at the grave of doctor and well-known Afrikaans poet and writer C Louis Leipoldt, which lies in a pocket of peace under a rock overhang. Continuing along the pass, watched by the weathered rock formations that resemble larger-than-life faces and mythological creatures, is the area called Rocklands, a favourite haunt for boulderers, who puzzle out the various ways to ascend the rugged rocks to test physical and mental acuity. 

Grave of C Louis Leipoldt. Image: Ron Swilling

The bouldering potential on the Pakhuis Pass was first discovered in 1996 by American climber Tod Skinner who came to rope-climb and noticed the large concentration of rock with technical holds, making the need for ropes redundant and the need for finger strength imperative. He was followed in 2004 by Klem Loskot, an Austrian climber, who explored the surroundings further and found vast bouldering potential. The sport gained popularity over the next decade as Rocklands became a bouldering mecca, dubbed “one of the best bouldering sites on the planet” and attracting international visitors between June and September. 

Charm central, olives and wine

The Pakhuis journey invites stays at several charming establishments and campsites along the route, including Alpha Excelsior, which offers accommodation in farm cottages, the original 200-year-old farmhouse and in its Donkey Caravan Camp. Highlights of a stay include walking to the waterfall, a swim or paddle in the dam and wine and olive tasting (booking essential). It is also home to the Hen House Coffee Shop, a revamped chicken coop, aka “the Cederberg’s cosiest coffee shop”. 

Vineyards of Alpha Excelsior. Image: Ron Swilling

The dam at Alpha Excelsior. Image: Ron Swilling

The Donkey Caravan Camp at Alpha Excelsior. Image: Image: Ron Swilling

Alpha Excelsior. Image: Ron Swilling

Alpha Excelsior. Image: Ron Swilling

Alpha Excelsior. Image: Ron Swilling

Vineyards of Alpha Excelsior. Image: Ron Swilling

Donkeys at Alpha Excelsior. Image: Image: Ron Swilling

In autumn, the olive trees are laden with fruit and the vines ablaze with flamboyant colours. James Cooper relates the story of the farm and how he and his wife Becky left the bright lights of Cape Town in 2013, following in the footsteps of Becky’s parents, Lizzy and Connie du Toit, who bought the farm in 2003. 

Connie made his first wines in 2004 and expanded their vineyards with pinotage, shiraz and cabernet cultivars. A land surveyor by profession, he wasn’t always around to oversee the wine-making process, so when the young couple arrived to take over the tourism side of the business, he passed on the wine-making side of it as well. Cooper laughs: “We did the wine-making course over the weekend in Stellenbosch and harvested on the Monday”. After a year, Becky Cooper left the wine- and olive-making to her husband, giving her full attention to the hospitality side of the farm and creating the “Charm Central” Hen House. 

Cooper followed the wine-making formula until 2019, when a poor harvest after the drought gave him the opportunity to experiment with natural fermentation, bringing out a whole new style of wine. He explains how this is more in keeping with the traditional way wine has been made for millennia. “In this way, we produce wines that taste like nowhere else on Earth because the yeast and bacteria cultures are different to other areas. These give the flavours and profile of the wine.” His Rugged Rocks wine and olive and olive oil tasting with a tour of the small winery is an ideal way to appreciate the environment on a lazy afternoon, with the tastes of the Cederberg tingling on your tongue as he shares his knowledge of the processes and adds nuggets of information about the Pakhuis’s many natural treasures.

Giving back to nature is an important concept in the reciprocity of life, which many people worldwide increasingly partake in today, as do several Pakhuis Pass residents, including Cooper and his Storytellers neighbours Tracy and JP du Plessis. Initiated by the climbers, the Rocklands Association for Development (RAD) was established five years ago, focusing on uplifting the community and promoting eco-friendly, sustainable tourism and climbing ethics, to make climbers more aware of and at one with the area. Through fundraising events, RAD has already built a creche and employs two full-time teachers who have been trained by ex-Waldorf residents. It has also started a climbing school for local children, sharing the joys of bouldering with them. 

Stories and healing balms

From Alpha Excelsior it’s a hop and a skip to Storytellers for their enchanting self-catering accommodation built in rocky, wild corners of the property, or for an appointment with Tracy du Plessis for a kinesiology session or a medicine-making workshop. 

When the couple first moved to Agter Pakhuis, JP set up the glamping accommodation while Tracy discovered the natural pharmacy around her and learnt the local lore, developing her natural range called Storytellers Fynbos Apothecary. 

Tracy du Plessis at Storytellers. Image: Ron Swilling

Tracy du Plessis at Storytellers. Image: Ron Swilling

Engaging with locals who share their deep knowledge of the plants, and working with modern and academic knowledge, Tracy started to discover the stories that the land and the plants held. Keeping the relationship collaborative, she formed Fynbos Mengsels (Fynbos Mixtures) with the traditional knowledge keepers of the area to revive the knowledge of the plants, exchanging and sharing Western and indigenous knowledge. 

Over the years, she has grown her knowledge and natural healing balms, using plants like kruidjie-roer-my-nie (Melianthus major) and pajama bush, better known by its Afrikaans name agtdaegeneesbos (eight-day healer bush – Lobostemon fruticosus). She explains that “this popular remedy was well known to the San and Khoi, and then the Cape settlers, who picked up the local knowledge,” adding that “it was used as a topical remedy often in the form of a poultice”. Tracy has adapted the remedy and instead of using fat as the settlers did, she infuses the leaves in beeswax and coconut and olive oil for her skin ointment and climber’s balm. She has also taken this ointment-making knowledge back into the community, helping Fynbos Mengsels members to make and sell their own balms.

Besides Tracy’s medicine-making courses – in which she teaches how to identify medicinal plants and make healing ointments – workshops on offer include traditional bread-making (sourdough and roosterkoek) run by the local community, and Track Wilderness Storytelling where JP and members from the community take participants on walks in the mountains to discover the stories of the animals and the land. 

Rock paintings and Traveller’s Rest

Next stop is Traveller’s Rest Farmstall and Restaurant towards the end of the pass. After buying a permit for the two-hour Sevilla trail, one can follow the path over the Brandewyn River and along a sandy path embossed with eland tracks to a series of Bushman rock paintings. Here hunter-gatherers of old painted a variety of images, human and animal, in rock crevices and overhangs. When I return to the farm stall brimming with ancient energy and a healthy dose of fresh air, I sit with Charité van Rijswijk and her mom, Haffie Strauss, at an outside table and over hot coffee and homemade crunchies listen to their interesting story. 

Bushman rock paintings by the Brandewyn River. Image: Ron Swilling

Bushman rock paintings by the Brandewyn River. Image: Ron Swilling

Bushman rock paintings by the Brandewyn River. Image: Ron Swilling

The farm has a long history and Pakhuis spirit runs deep in Haffie’s veins. A born-and-bred Pakhuis resident, she grew up on the farm next door and besides schooling in Cape Town has spent her entire life there. “I just hopped over the boundary line,” she says, “and married the man next door.” She remembers how her grandfather, the esteemed Dr Nortier known for changing the destiny of rooibos herbal tea by discovering the trick to germinating and hence cultivating rooibos plants, loved the peace experienced on the pass. He would drive up from Clanwilliam at the end of the day, instructing the children not to utter a word, and in the silence would savour the sun setting into the hills. Haffie says: “I’m turning 80 now, I’ve grown up here, been here all my life, and at every time of the day and in every season, it remains beautiful. It’s a privilege to grow old here.”

Destiny drew Haffie’s daughter Charité back to the farm from the city in 2010 when her husband went on a two-week trip to Botswana. Before long she had her sleeves rolled up and was busy creating the farm stall-cum-shop at Traveller’s Rest. She also became involved with helping to convert the labourers’ cottages into accommodation and open the restaurant. She is still there, with her husband, 12 years later. At the time of my visit, the farm stall has freshly picked granadillas for sale and the restaurant is advertising tripe as the daily special. Other traditional fare like bobotie and chicken curry are also on offer, and Haffie explains that the eland stew is one of the most popular dishes. Mother and daughter pose for a photograph at the Camino fountain, inspired by Haffie’s much-loved Camino walks in Spain, and explain that Traveller’s Rest was the name of the farm from the time when people drove their ox wagons over the mountains, resting and spending the night at the river. 

On the Pakhuis Pass. Image: Ron Swilling

On the Pakhuis Pass. Image: Ron Swilling

What to do

• Pay your respects at C Louis Leipoldt’s grave
• Have breakfast, a light meal or state-of-the-art coffee at Alpha Excelsior’s Hen House (open in bouldering season May to September, weekends during the rest of the year)
• Browse through the farm stall, walk the two-hour (5km) Sevilla rock-art trail and enjoy lunch at Traveller’s Rest
• Stroll along a walking trail, explore the property on your mountain bike or lie back with a book at the dam at Neels Cottage
• Purchase Storytellers fynbos balms at the Hen House, Traveller’s Rest & Velskoendraai farm stall at the entrance to Clanwilliam
• Treat yourself to a spa treatment at Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve & Wellness Retreat
• Visit Clanwilliam for a rooibos tea-tasting at Velskoendraai farm stall & restaurant
• Take a drive to the small Wupperthal settlement
• Discover the Biedouw Valley in flower season (mid-July to mid-Sept)
• Hike the 12km trail from Pakhuis Pass to Heuningvlei, returning by donkey cart (permits available at Kliphuis Campsite)
• Give bouldering a try (permits available at Traveller’s Rest)
• Explore the Heritage hiking trails through the Cederberg mountains

Where to stay

Klein Kliphuis: off-the-grid accommodation and camping 027 482 2564

Kliphuis (CapeNature): Cottages & campsite, 087 087 8250

Alpha Excelsior (cottages, the original farmhouse and well-equipped caravans), 027 482 2700/0604 332 559

Storytellers for glamping among the rocks, 027 470 0057/078 498 7103

De Pakhuys, popular with boulderers: camping, glamping and chalets, 083 604 1459/071 840 4867

Kleinfontein: cottages and camping, 082 905 5837

Die Poort: cottages, caravans & campsite: 081 052 8114

Traveller’s Rest: rustic farm cottages and an albergue for groups 082 554 9303

Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve for a more upmarket stay, 087 743 2399

Neels Cottage: 082 491 5457

Getting there

The Pakhuis Pass is about three hours north of Cape Town on the N7, turning off at Clanwilliam and following the R364 to Calvinia. DM/ML

You can follow Ron Swilling and read more stories here.  

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After a devastating fire, Wupperthal is rising again