Otter Trail - Day 1
- Likhabiso Kaibe
- Jul 19, 2022
- 4 min read
The Otter trail has been on my bucket list for atleast 5 years if not more, it is known of its beauty and rated amongst the best trails in the world so when my sister and friend Haps called one evening in April that there is an opening for us to do the Otter trail, without a thought I jumped into it.
Can you imagine the excitement that reigned in me? One, I was doing the Otter in exactly three months (giving me some time to train for the flight of stairs that I underestimated in my head) plus I will be on a 5 day overnight trail with my best people; Haps Pooe and Ino Pitsoe.
Haps and Ino maximized the Westcliff stairs for training, I continued with my runs and for the last preparations we conquered De Wildt as a simulation trail and completed Euphorbia trail and that was epic.
We took the first flight to PE last week Tuesday and landed at about 08:30am and sat for breakfast at Wimpy.
We met our group members in a shuttle operated by a helpful gentleman by the name Elvis and headed to Tsitsikama Storms River rest camp where the trail starts.
On arrival just after 14:00 we registered, quickly ran through an induction. Due to time constraints we started our trail at 15:30 which was a late start for a 4.8km trail.
The induction was led by a very affluent informative lady who shared some important information about the trail, the rivers to cross and the times, especially on Day 3 and 4 taking into account the tides and of course which water sources are safe to drink along the trail.
My backpack was heavy and I didn’t bother to weight it again, the airport scale confirmed 13,6kgs and I am not one of chose who understands what packing light means. Fortunately my gorgeous ladies used the porter services so I was able to share some of my load with them…what a perk😊.
Day 1 is a relatively short distance of 4.8km to Ngubu with an estimated average of +- 2hours. Despite the late start, we didn’t rush through it, we thoroughly enjoyed it and completed the trail in 3hours 18minutes.
It was a total breathtaking experience. My heart beamed as we walked through the wooden entrance inscribed “YOUR GATEWAY TO THE OTTER TRAIL”, I knew that was it. I had entered my heaven, surrounded by a beautiful indigenous forest with spectacular landscapes and clean air. As you walk through the forest you have a glance of the ocean on your left and string of wooden stairs ahead of you. We called them “staircase to heaven” and it’s a number of them.
As the forest opens you are brought into a vat of an ocean with beautiful dancing waves that splashes in a rhythm.
As we continued on our journey with short stops to marvel our surroundings coupled by the fynbos we got into a rocky terrain that needed much concentration.
I was happy, I still felt strong despite the heavy backpack and my mates smiles and energy were also good and complementary, however it was getting dark and we decided to pick up the pace.
We walked past a beautiful waterfall with the natural pool that I had promised to dunk myself in irrespective of the cold (but that is still a dream…it didn’t happen) and few hours later we got excited to arrive at our home for the night – Ngubu hut.
As we approached the huts we had voices that welcomed us with ululation and whistles.
We had arrived and completed our Day 1 of the Otter. Only a few steps our huts awaited us. This voices were a beautiful surprise from the four gentlemen that arrived earlier and completed the set 12 hikers on the trail.
To add to the surprise, one of them; Mark happens to be my neighbour; a stone throw from my home.
We were awakened by great excitement hearing warm voices after a long stretch in the dark and there lie two wooden huts labeled Hut 1 and Hut 2 both with magnificent ocean views. We take Hut 2, it has two bunk beds dressed with mattresses only. They sleep six people and each bunk bed accommodates three people. Ino takes the bottom level of the bunk bed, we sandwiched Haps on the second level and I sleep on top.
We had been warned that there is no electricity, that there is sporadic cellphone network and only cold showers. The outside shower that we all share is positioned in the forest not far from our hut.
On arrival, we danced and shared a big high five moment and negotiated our cold shower which we endured with screams of excitement and chill. It wasn’t as bad as I had thought and committed right there and there to atleast have a cold shower once a week back home.
We later enjoyed our easy woolies meal and a fruit salad that we picked up in PE. Made a cup of coffee and slept warmly and beautifully. Thanks to Kuyashisa heat pads that retains heat for upto 15 hours - this was our ultimate luxury.
Enjoy our Otter 🦦Journey with Us
Hear about Day 2 tomorrow💃🏻
Likha~Biso
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