The Otter Trail is officially the oldest and undoubtedly the most iconic hiking trail in South Africa. The trail, which runs along the spectacular coastline between the Storms River mouth and Nature’s Valley, was opened in 1968 and is considered one of the finest multi-day trails in the world. It is named after the shy, mostly nocturnal, Cape Clawless Otter which inhabits the estuaries and streams of the South African coast. It has some steep climbs and descents, as well as technical river crossings. Mostly standard trail walking interspersed with “walk-through” river crossings. However, the main technical difficulty of the trail is the Bloukrans River crossing which involves swimming across the river and climbing up steep terrain by use of a rope. 45km.
The Otter Trail is the venue for the annual Otter African Trail Run. Race records (supported) are kept on the race website. Here we keep times for unsupported runs of the Otter.
