The Tsitsikamma Mountains
Monday, 27th September 2021
The Tsitsikamma mountains form an east-west range in the southern region of the South African coast in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces.
Stretching just over 80 km from the Keurbooms River in the west just north of Plettenberg Bay, to Kareedouw Pass in the east, near the town of Kareedouw. It forms a continuous range with the Outeniqua Mountains to the west. The range consists almost exclusively of Table Mountain sandstone which is extremely erosion-resistant.
Peak Formosa is the highest point in the range at 1675m. The climate of the range is extremely mild, with temperature variations only between 10°C and 25°C generally and rainfall exceeding 1000mm per annum, thus the region supports verdant fynbos and Afro-Mantane temperate gallery forest habitats.
Snow sometimes occurs on the highest peaks in winter. The topography of the mountains is interesting, in that the range rises abruptly from the south at a very defined line that runs almost due east-west at the 34 degrees south latitude.
