Kleinrivier Mountains
Encyclopedia
Mountain range
A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...
in the Cape Fold Belt
Cape Fold Belt
The Cape Fold Belt is the folded sedimentary sequence of rocks in the southwestern corner of South Africa. It is related to the Ventana Mountains near Bahía Blanca in Argentina...
of the Western Cape
Western Cape
The Western Cape is a province in the south west of South Africa. The capital is Cape Town. Prior to 1994, the region that now forms the Western Cape was part of the much larger Cape Province...
province of South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. Kleinrivier means "Small River" in Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
and is named after the river in the area that mouths out near Hermanus
Hermanus
Hermanus is a town with 49,000 inhabitants on the southern coast of the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is famous as a place from which to watch Southern Right whales, during the southern winter and spring and is a popular retirement town...
where the range begins in the west, then continues eastward to north-east of Stanford
Stanford, Western Cape
Stanford, Western Cape is a settlement in Overberg District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa....
and terminates at Akkedisberg Pass. The highest mountain in the range is Maanskynkop (964m) , and dominates the entire Walker Bay
Walker Bay
Walker Bay is a large bay located in the south-western Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the next major bay between False Bay near Cape Town and Cape Agulhas to the south-east. The bay is famous for having some of the best land based whale-watching in the world, which a town on its...
coastline. The mountains experience a very mild Mediterranean climate
Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...
, moderated by cool, moist winds blowing off the South Atlantic Ocean. Although no peaks exceed 1000m, the range is still quite imposing, as it rises very steeply from sea-level.
North of the main range, is actually the higher range of the Babilonstoring Mountains , which are geologically part of the range, and even though shorter, are higher, with its highest point reaching 1167m. They are more clearly visible south of Caledon
Caledon, Western Cape
Caledon is a town in the Overberg region in the Western Cape province of South Africa, located about east of Cape Town. it had a population of 10,650. It is located in, and the seat of, the Theewaterskloof Local Municipality....
, and are traversed by Shaw's Mountain Pass of the R320
R320 (Western Cape)
The R320 is a Regional Route in South Africa that connects Hermanus with Caledon. The southern section of this road from Camphill to Shaw's Mountain Pass is gravel .-External links:*...
.