Otter Trail - Day 5

Our last day of this magnificent trail has arrived. We are faced with 10.8km and that will be it. Our boots are wet from yesterday’s Bloukrans drama. We have worn plastics over to keep our socks dry and feet warm.

"Plastic" signature look

At least the major river crossings are not part of our worries today, we heard in our first day briefing session that day 5 will be a walk in the park to Natures Valley where the trail ends.

Our first crossing for the day

We take a lot of pictures as a group before we depart. It is a group of 12 people (the allowable number of hikers at a time), we cross a small river, so small there is absolutely no need to take off our boots.

Haps posing for a pic

Having a small crossing is comforting since it is cold and just after 07:00 in the morning. After we crossed…you guessed  it right – we go up a long hill. It is the last big ascend of the trail, shortly after that we are welcomed by a viewing deck, you can see Andre hut hiding down there.

Andre hut as seen from the viewing deck

Refreshed me at the viewing deck

We enjoyed the long walk with breathtaking views. My phone is not behaving due to the water damage from yesterday, so it is sadly a “no picture taking” day for me.

The views

More views towards the viewing deck

The road is mostly flat, we walk on a path with a string of Protea trees. We come across “our stairs” but they are not too many and not that steep.

We reach another rocky terrain with extraordinary views of the natures valley beach.

Its a never ending climb

We take a break and enjoy the views. We follow a sudden descend and voila we are at the beach. We meet the locals that are happy to see us and again take more pictures.

Haps spotted "Titanic"

Our shadows "LIH" (Likha,Ino and Haps) at Natures Valley beach

We follow the trail markers  that take us into the forest, you can see the beach clearly from here.  After the 9km mark, we reach an overflowing crossing with a chain to help with the crossing. It is a surprise as we were not expecting any more crossings.

Last crossing that we abandoned

We look at each other to navigate it. Everyone of us (TK, Ino, Haps and Myself) refuse to cross this thing. We are tired and are not prepared to be immersed in water. Bro Sipho crosses and the water literally reaches his neck, this is a guy that is taller than me and he is wavering through like an unbalanced boat.

We call the rangers to come pick us up and they point us to the escape route, we make a U turn and walk another 3km’s past a sign pointing to De Vasselot restcamp back to the beach.

After a couple of minutes, we see a van waiting for us to take us to SANParks offices where we will be signing out. We jump at the back of the van - this brings fond memories of me growing up. We’d jump at the back of our Yellow Toyota Hilux to church every Sunday – my mom and elder sister Nthabeleng were assigned the front seat by default, whilst my dad drives. The three of us Retha, Libooks and myself would be blown by the wind at the back of the van. Retha hated it because she had started dating and had long hair and her styling would be ruined by the time we got to church. I loved it and didn’t mind.

Anyway, we arrived at SANParks offices, filled in the visitors’ book with our details signifying the end of our beautiful journey. Our Otter Trail Completion certificates will be mailed through to us in a few days.

Mission accomplished

For the first time on a trail, we take a hot shower, change into clean clothes and head back to Port Elizabeth where we will be catching our flight back to Johannesburg.

We enjoy the Garden route one last time and go via Jeffreys Bay for a mouthwatering fish and chips.

Nicely painted table outside our fish and chips spot

We are on time for our 20h00 flight. It’s been an amazing experience. All I could do on the flight was close my eyes, let it sink that one of my bucket list items has been ticked off successfully and dozed off.

It was all worth it. Everything was worth seeing and going through.

Should you consider hiking the Otter, I would encourage you to do it in winter, there is less heat and rains which the walk pleasant. The cold showers are also not as bad as I had thought they would be.

The dope company

Your company matters…I had the best company of amazing sisterhood and friendship – Ino and Haps have been so great I cannot put it in words!!!

We are looking forward to many more multi day hikes together. Call us the Mighty Three 😊

The Mighty Three

Otter Greetings

Likha~Biso with Love ❤