For us this meant working on a rather large deal with a global bank which didnt result in the outcome we expected, but I won't get into that.A very good learning curve for me though and one I won't regret being a part of.
In October 2010, a group of twelve of us undertook one of the famous hikes in South Africa.
The Otter trail is well known (surprisingly, at most social occasions or meetings of at least more than two people, you will find a person who has done the trail...I promise)
Trevor and I had tried to book it about eight years back, but after a cancellation, we were left Otter-less and when Helen's best friend, Jacki, booked it, I was only too happy to jump at the chance. An eight year delay in my books is eight years too long.
The Otter is usually booked up (in the dry months at least) for about two years in advance. We were incredibly lucky to get our spot and it was still about a year ahead of the start date that Jax got into their schedule. This gave us enough time to mentally prepare, buy all the trail goodies and finalise our preparations.
This also gave Helen the opportunity to effectively buy shares in Cape Union Mart as she kitted herself out with new kit. I would not hesitate to say that outdoor shops make a large portion of their annual revenue on "new hikers" like most of us who are preparing for their first multi-day ordeal. For these Otter-Trailers, this was certainly the case!
Anyhow, back to the future and we all converged on Plettenberg Bay and Storms River in October. After an entertaining road-trip where we had failed miserably in a futile effort to book U2 tickets online while driving through Graaff-Reinet, Helen, Jax, Melody and I (yes, one guy and 3 girls for a two day road trip, accompanied by the Blackberry version of 1001 interesting facts, like "How fast does a bee fly?") made our way down to our place in Plett at Goose Valley (The Goose) for a couple of days luxury before we hit the great outdoors.
(Mel checking out the Gem of the Karoo, Graaff-Reinet)
(Relaxing in Plett before the Trail begins)
This also gave us an awesome opportunity to pack and re-pack our backpacks multiple times and argue about which pack was the heaviest. It also gave me a chance to buy a new pair of shoes as my current pair had developed an amazingly positioned hole in the side. This meant taking a brand new pair on the 5 day hike and hoping blisters would not be my closest companion for the duration.
We all met up for the first night at the Storms River Campsite in the Tsitsikamma nature reserve to have dinner at the restaurant and talk about what was to come. We were greeted by a group at the table next to us of a slightly older crowd who had just completed the walk. They were wet, tired, covered in dirt and celebrating the fact that they had made it through. After a few drinks, they were also only too happy to share all the "secrets" of the walk with us.
(Hike leader Jacki "I've got this waxed" van der Riet)
The next morning, bright and early we set off (after watching the compuslory video of 1980's style actors doing the trail and pointing out all the flowers along the route). Everyone was sprightly and fairly cruised to the first campsite. The first day is a relatively short walk and is highlighted by a coastal waterfall where the brave had a very cold swim. We were surprised by an African striped genet at the campsite fire and got very creative trying to get some night time photo's of it.
(The whole crowd at the waterfall on Day 1)
(The mist off the ocean looking down over the cliffs in the late afternoon)
The second day is slightly longer and starts off with some slog through the undergrowth and a few little climbs, giving plenty of opportunity to see down the coastline and have a sighting of what is to come over the next few days. Possibly the longest vertical climb occurs on day two and Mark Dickson and I pushed ahead to scout out the trail. We managed to reach the campsite relatively early, but still only just early enough to beat the only rain storm we had over the five days.
(Kim and Tracy Pretorius at one of the lookout points over the cliffs)
We were incredibly lucky with the weather actually, it rained until before the day we started, rained overnight while at camp two, and started to rain again the day after we finished...well organised Jax!
Day three served up our first proper river crossing, which was a challenge as the recent rains had created some very swollen rivers. A team effort saw all the packs across the river inside their survival bags and the intrepid trail-ers safely as well. The only loss was a slop which was not strong enough to withstand the current.
(The other side of the river, re-organizing packs after the crossing)
The campsite at the end of day three is a lovely one. Both huts look out over the rocks and the river mouth into the ocean. We were spoilt with ongoing views of wave cresting dolphins throughout the late afternoon and evening as they trawled the coastline for food. The cold rain-water shower on this evening even felt surprisingly refreshing!
(The huts at the end of day three, just after the river crossing and looking out over the ocean)
(Sunset on day three, with Robberg point in the distance)
Day four is the long and challenging part of the Otter Trail. All the talk of the trail is of Day 4, where crossing the Bloukrans is the major stumbling block. The day covers just over 13km of undulating terrain, with a lot of climbs and scrambling over the beachside rocks.
(Mark and I on our way down to Bloukrans, after stopping to assess the strategy for the crossing)
We were once again fortunate that our time to cross the river (this is dependant on when the tide is low, as it is not considered safe to do the crossing at high tide, or even too long after the tide has shifted) was at approximately midday. This gave us the opportunity to wake up at a normal time (which is when the sun comes up) and walk at a decent pace to beat the tide. I have friends who have had to walk through the night to get to the river crossing at the right time. How lucky we were.
(Bloukrans River, the world's highest bungy jump is further upstream)
The last night's campsite provides the hiker with the famous "loo with a view" and an incredibly cold shower. It also gives everyone the opportunity to finish whatever they have left in their packs, to reflect on the last four days and size up the climb that would be the start of our final day.
Day five is a breeze, after the starting climb we reached the plateau and fairly cruised along the clifftops. After a couple of hours we reached the beach at Natures Valley. All trail-ers were happy to have made it through five days in the wilderness, some sickness, some injuries and a lot of tinned tuna and two minute noodles.
(On Natures Valley beach after everyone had finished the trail, successful!)
We still had a few kilometres to walk to the final lunch together, where a hot meal and food being served to us, rather than being consumed in a mug/bowl/plate combination was the order of the day.
Finally, when the time came to go our separate ways, it was unanimous...everyone would do it again. In a heartbeat.
What an awesome week! I even emailed SANParks when I got back into the office to find out when the next available slot would be (but not in the middle of winter!!)
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