Otter Trail - Day 2
- Likhabiso Kaibe
- Jul 20, 2022
- 3 min read
What a beautiful, restful sleep we had at Ngubu! We woke up to the calming sound of the sea, the views are to die for, and our energies are soaring. Haps does that high jump shot as we are ready to leave Ngubu hut heading to Scott, our home for the second day.
We start at our journey at 08:11am with a cruelling uphill that leads to a forest. I feel liberated walking in this forest without fear of being attacked. You see; my grandmother’s house was close to a notorious forest that was often a playground for the bad boys and a short cut to St Monica’s Cathedral. Not once would I take that route, for safety reasons. I would opt for a much longer route which meant leaving home at least 30 minutes earlier so I would be on time for Sunday Mass.
So, here I am with my friends walking freely in a place that took me back for a bit and doing what we love. As we climb, we laugh about the escape route (E1) that we see and promise ourselves not to take any of the escape routes, but to brave the upcoming rivers.
Further up into the walk we are welcomed by a viewing deck which we run towards, to take some pictures, it also allows us to rest our backs a bit.
It is breathtaking views with blue waters. As you look down you can see the camping side we just came from.
1.9km into the walk is another swirl of stairs that felt like “Stepford Wives” cellar entering further into the forest with enormous glittering boulders naturally sprinkled with a dash of an orange colour, some are stained with amoeba and growing 'mushroom like' plants on them.
Marvelous perpetual sea views are right on your left popping up in between the forest. You are bound to stop and reflect. The sight seeing sort of erases all the stresses and the fresh waters makes you want to stop and drink from the stream. You just don’t get tired of the views.
Our biggest concern was the Bloukrans river which we are set to cross on the fourth day, so Kleinbos river was a big surprise to us. We took a break and set up for lunch. Crossing Kleinbos was a mission, it was raging and one of our fellow hikers got a fright when the waters splashed him heavily and lost balance, thankfully he wasn’t hurt.
Having crossed to the other side, we marched straight up and was met by crossroads; one to “Blue Bay” and the other to Scott hut. We stopped for a much needed sugar injection and took a few photos. From the crossroads, there is a long descend to another forest that leads to the huts. The steep is punishing and very rocky, so you need to be gentle with yourself.
Few minutes into the walk we reach Scott hut, what was supposed to be 7.9km clocks 11.63km on my watch. We picked up that the distances marked on the trail are inaccurate. We choose hut 2 again, it is positioned right next the sea. We offload and run a cold shower, have dinner and coffee and I rest my feet by the sea and picked up some beautiful stones that I brought home.
We started the fire and watched the sunset. A small animal known as a genet visits us and rests under the hut and you can only see the shiny green eyes. Marcia is scared thinking she’s seen a ghost. We run into the hut and lock the doors.
Wondrous Wednesday it is…
Likha~Biso🦦❤️
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