Vehicles are dwarfed by the Cape Fold Mountains of the Swartberg Pass as they travel on the dry packed road built by Thomas Bain and officially opened in January 1888.
If you drive anywhere in the Cape, west or east, chances are you will be on a road or travelling through a pass built by a pioneering father and son team over 150 years ago.
Andrew Geddes Bain, a Scottish-born engineer and his son Thomas Bain plotted and built around forty routes over and through the mountains that stand between the coastal towns and the interior of South Africa.
As you cruise along Bain’s Kloof Pass, spare a thought for the man whose job it was to find the most efficient path through this rugged terrain. Armed with primitive surveying tools and a horse, he considered routes and marked them for the 400-strong construction crew, who took four years to cut the pass and build a gravel road.
This was the pattern for the 8 passes and roads he built, which included Van Ryneveld’s Pass, the Fish River Bridge, then the largest in South Africa, Ecca Pass on the road between Grahamstown and Fort Beaufort, and Michell’s Pass.
He did not limit his talents to road building, producing the first Geographical map of South Africa and is regarded as a key figure in the field of palaeontology, discovering several important Karoo fossils, including the reptile Oudenodon bainii, which is named for him.
It was natural that Thomas would follow his father’s path, going on to build 29 major roads and passes, which include the majestic and challenging, 27-kilometre-long, Swartberg Pass between Oudtshoorn and Prince Albert.
To get a true sense of his ingenuity, the next time you are driving to Knysna, forget the coastal route and head inland for Avontuur, near Uniondale. From there, follow Prince Alfred’s Pass as it winds its way down from the escarpment to Knysna. It is truly an adventure.
It took Thomas Bain and his team six years to complete, and as you drive along the route, you will see why.
This father and son team shaped the Cape as we know it, their efforts cut travel times by days, opening the country’s interior to the coastal settlements.
As a footnote, there is another early pioneer who is often confused with the Scottish engineers. Thomas Baines is no relation and was an explorer and artist. He was South Africa’s first official war artist ,documenting the Eighth Frontier War and was the first artist to paint scenes of the Victoria Falls when he joined the 1858 Zambezi expedition with David Livingstone.
His 400 or so oil paintings, together with countless sketches, maps, and journals, give valuable insight into early exploration and everyday life in Southern Africa.