Route 62

The little-known Route 62 is one of the prettiest and most interesting drive routes in South Africa. An inland, often mountainous alternative to the Garden Route between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, a large proportion of this route travels along the R62 road - hence its name. It travels some of the most dramatic passes and valleys in the country, and through some genuine frontier villages.

Starting just outside Cape Town, beyond Paarl and Stellenbosch, the N1 freeway penetrates the Dutoitsberg mountain range in the Huguenot tunnel, spilling out into the Breede River Valley. Here the convoluted mountains surround a maze of wine-making valleys, each with its own peculiar features. The pretty towns of Worcester, Tulbagh and Franschoek are in this area, along with the jewel-like McGregor and the spa-town of Montagu.

Route 62 then enters the Little Karoo, an expansive hinterland whose name means 'hard and dry' in the Khoi language. The semi-desert, made up of plains and flat-topped hills with no vegetation except for wiry scrub, covers a full third of South Africa's surface.

Calitzdorp is in this region, producer of the country's finest port, as well as the well-known Oudtshoorn and its Cango Caves. A slight diversion from the R62 will find Matjiesfontein and the Karoo National Park, a reserve that actually has much more to offer than its meagre publicity would suggest.

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