They might start within a kilometre of each other on the Swartberg Pass, but while the Swartberg 4x4 Trail takes you along high peaks, the Gamkaskloof route takes you down into a historic valley with a forbidding name. Matt Covarr took the high and the low road.

The first large drops explode on the hut’s tin roof. We huddle inside the tin-roofed stone shelter; wind-lashed from all directions, while lightning strikes seemingly steps away.

Within an hour of experiencing extreme heat and blue sky, a perfect mountain storm is raging.

Feeling insignificant, we watch and listen respectfully as nature unleashes her might on the Swartberg and us.

Waterfalls and rivers ooze from the mountainside. The track down into the valley is transformed into a torrent of white water.

We visualise the track linking the hut (and us) to the outside world being washed down the mountain side.
What if we’re stuck here? Will somebody at least come looking for us after a few days? What about our plans to visit Gamkaskloof? Well, we will find out soon enough …

Earlier today, we turned off the Swartberg Pass between Oudtshoorn and Prince Albert and onto the Swartberg 4x4 Trail that runs from the summit of the pass eastwards towards Meiringspoort.

When it comes to rugged, no-nonsense beauty, the Cape Fold Mountains rival some of the planet’s great mountain ranges. The Swartberg, that awe-inspiring division between the Little and Great Karoo, is a case in point.

Earlier, while we were climbing steadily through the foothills of the Swartberg on the R328, running north from Oudtshoorn to Prince Albert, we did get a sense of this. But only when you’re on the Swartberg Pass do you realise why this mountain is so special it’s been declared a World Heritage Site.