It’s been exactly a week since a group of friends and myself completed the Otter Trail hike. A week later, and my body still remembers the hike. In gym bunny terms, it was basically leg day, everyday, all day, all week.
The Otter Trail is probably the most exciting, gruelling, and rewarding adventure I have ever undertaken. When my friend Liz first came with the idea of doing the Otter Trail, I thought it was a crazy but wonderful idea. I was also particularly attracted to the idea of assembling a big group of friends, especially a group led by super-prepared lesbians. Going on the Otter Trail is not the kind of adventure I would initiate myself, so really, the only possible way I could have ever gone on this trip was if it was guided by the capable hands of people, specifically lesbians, who know what they are doing.
The Otter Trail adventure was first planned for early 2020, but because of COVID-19 and the accompanying restrictions, the trip had to be postpostened for another year. Along the way, many initial enthusiasts lost their excitement and pulled out. Luckily, through word of mouth, there were other people who were happy to join the group to make a total of twelve.
There is a madness to the Otter Trail, I mean, carrying five days worth of food, food preparations equipment, clothes for hiking, clothes for campsite dwelling at night, sleeping clothes, and a sleeping bag. But, of course, in the madness, therein lies the magic. The magic of bonding with eleven other individuals who you are sharing this wonderful experience with you. A bonding that is cemented throughout the five days by the sharing of stories of growing up and meandering the reality of South African life. The Otter Trail offers unparalleled natural beauty where on a single day of hiking you go up and down on what at first seems like insurmountable mountains, wondrously cross rivers and streams, nervously navigate rock face, walk between ancient trees – that almost feel like they can answer back, watch in wonder the vastness and strength of the ocean as it crashes on gigantic rocks and in the process creating beautiful and deceptively inviting rock pools.
While hiking through the Otter Trail, coming up on one mountain hill after another, at one point, I smiled at cheesy self thinking about that Nelson Mandela quote that, “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.” A quote I would roll my eyes at under normal circumstances. On the Otter Trail hike, my cynicism was suspended, if for five days, and I was humbled before nature as everything turned into parables for a way of life. There is some incredibly humbling about being surrounded by nature as in the Otter Trail, with “bare minimum” where you are reminded that you not only come from nature, and will surely return to it, but that you are part of it. Something poignant considering how we are wreaking havoc on the planet.
Of course, my experience of the Otter Trail cannot be understood outside the Covid-19 pandemic, the lockdown it induced, and the subsequent world of masks and social distancing. There was something incredibly liberating in leaving the Cape Town apartment and embrace the freedom of living in the woods where I didn’t have to worry about masks or social distancing, and the incessant demands of zoom calls and emails. Like many people, living and working at home as created a renewed appreciation of being outside in nature.
There are many revelations that one could pontificate about after an adventure like the Otter Trail. One of them is how on my first travels to Cape Town from Port Elizabeth, I used to arrive early at the bus terminus in order to claim the front seats of the double decker Intercape bus in order to see everything. I would marvel at the Tsitsikamma forest, Bloukrans bridge, Van Stadens bridge – which was notorious for suicides, and valleys in the area. With every trip, I used to wonder, what is on the other side of the N2. I finally found out on the Otter Trail. There’s a sweet teenage magic in that, my cynicism notwithstanding.
But the greatest revelation is my body. The Otter Trail is demanding and I can’t help but be amazed at the strength and beauty of the human body. My body just kept going and going. I came out of this experience with such a renewed appreciation for my body and what my body can do. Going up and down mountains and scaling rock face and crossing rivers, all while carrying a 18 kg bag, I became aware of every muscle, every limb, and every joint of my body. I was aware of my breathing. I felt alive! And that is a gift in itself.
Of course, by the end of the Otter Trail, while I had an amazing experience, I was more than ready for a hot shower, soft white linen with big fluffy pillows, and a cold savannah.
I hope you enjoy the images from the experience and you consider going on the Otter Trail. And to my fellow Otters – Guardian of the nature portals, Most organic luxury item, Biggest BDE on the trail, TrailGayzer, Badass Bloukrans Bitch, Funniest Bear Grylls, Hotstix Otter (She sets fire to the rain), Dopest Smile of the Mighty Lot, ApOtterCarry, She ain’t heaven, she’s our Devi!, and Mom on Mescaline – thank you. You were all the perfect ingredient to an amazing experience.
