mouth_of_the_watercourse storms river
The Otter Trail is a hiking trail along the Garden Route coast of South Africa and is named for the Cape clawless otter which occurs in this region . This trail is widely regarded as one of the finest in the world and stretches from Storms River Mouth in the east to Nature ' s Valley in the west , is 26 km long as the crow flies and 41 km as the hiker walks . Walking the trail takes 5 days , and the 4 nights are spent in comfortable huts with superb views . The route is located entirely within the Tsitsikamma National Park , which protects an 80 km long strip of coastal mountains , forest and beaches . The Tsitsikamma National Park is a protected area on the Garden Route , Western Cape and Eastern Cape , South Africa . It is a coastal reserve well known for its indigenous forests , dramatic coastline , and the Otter Trail . On 6 March 2009 it was amalgamated with the Wilderness National Park and various other areas of land to form the Garden Route National Park . The Eastern Cape is a province of South Africa . Its capital is Bhisho , but its two largest cities are Port Elizabeth and East London . It was formed in 1994 out of the Xhosa homelands of Transkei and Ciskei , together with the eastern portion of the Cape Province . Landing place and home of the 1820 settlers , the central and eastern part of the province is the traditional home of the Xhosa people . This region is the birthplace of many prominent South African politicians , such as Nelson Mandela , Oliver Tambo , Walter Sisulu , Govan Mbeki , Raymond Mhlaba , Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe , Chris Hani , Thabo Mbeki , Steve Biko , Bantu Holomisa and Charles Coghlan . The Garden Route ( Afrikaans : " Tuinroete ") is a stretch of the south - western coast of South Africa which extends from Mossel Bay in the Western Cape to the Storms River in the Eastern Cape . The name comes from the verdant and ecologically diverse vegetation encountered here and the numerous lagoons and lakes dotted along the coast . It includes towns such as Knysna , Plettenberg Bay , Mossel Bay , Little Brak River and Nature ' s Valley ; with George , the Garden Route ' s largest city and ___MASK84___ administrative centre . Ciskei ( or ) was a nominally independent state  a Bantustan  in the south east of South Africa . It covered an area of , almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province , and possessed a small coastline along the shore of the ___MASK57___ . Namibia , officially the Republic of Namibia ( German : ), is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the ___MASK94___ . It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north , Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east . Although it does not border Zimbabwe , a part of less than 200 metres of the Zambezi River ( essentially a small bulge in Botswana to achieve a Botswana / Zambia micro - border ) separates the two countries . Namibia gained independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990 , following the Namibian War of Independence . Its capital and largest city is Windhoek , and it is a member state of the United Nations ( UN ), the Southern African Development Community ( SADC ), the African Union ( AU ), and the Commonwealth of Nations . Zimbabwe , officially the Republic of Zimbabwe , is a landlocked country located in southern Africa , between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers . It is bordered by South Africa to the south , Botswana to the west and southwest , Zambia to the northwest , and Mozambique to the east and northeast . Although it does not border Namibia , less than 200 metres of the ___MASK3___ separates it from that country . The capital and largest city is Harare . A country of roughly 13 million people , Zimbabwe has 16 official languages , with English , Shona , and Ndebele the most commonly used . The ___MASK57___ is the third largest of the world ' s oceanic divisions , covering ( approximately 20 % of the water on the Earth ' s surface ). It is bounded by Asia on the north , on the west by Africa , on the east by Australia , and on the south by the ___MASK37___ or , depending on definition , by Antarctica . It is named after the country of India . The ___MASK57___ is known as " Ratnkara ", "" the mine of gems "" in ancient Sanskrit literature , and as " Hind Mahsgar ", "" the great Indian sea "", in Hindi . Africa is the world ' s second - largest and second - most - populous continent . At about 30 . 3 million km² ( 11 . 7 million square miles ) including adjacent islands , it covers 6 % of Earth ' s total surface area and 20 . 4 % of its total land area . With 1 . 1 billion people as of 2013 , it accounts for about 15 % of the world ' s human population . The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean ___MASK53___ to the north , both the Suez Canal and the ___MASK61___ along the Sinai Peninsula to the northeast , the ___MASK57___ to the southeast , and the ___MASK94___ to the west . The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos . It contains 54 fully recognized sovereign states ( countries ), nine territories and two " de facto " independent states with limited or no recognition . Nature ' s Valley is a holiday resort and small village on the Garden Route along the southern Cape coast of South Africa . Nature ' s Valley lies between the ___MASK90___ , the foothills of the Tsitsikamma Mountains , the ___MASK57___ and the Groot River lagoon . Nature ' s Valley has a balmy climate and is surrounded by the de Vasselot Nature Reserve which is part of the Tsitsikamma Park , and in turn part of the Garden Route National Park . Mozambique ( or ), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( or "") is a country in Southeast Africa bordered by the ___MASK57___ to the east , Tanzania to the north , Malawi and Zambia to the northwest , Zimbabwe to the west , and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest . It is separated from Madagascar by the ___MASK92___ to the east . The capital and largest city is Maputo ( known as " Lourenço Marques " before independence ). The ___MASK94___ is the second largest of the world ' s oceans with a total area of about . It covers approximately 20 percent of the Earth ' s surface and about 29 percent of its water surface area . It separates the " Old World " from the " New World ". Storms River is a river in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa . The river mouth is located in the Tsitsikamma National Park . The 5 day Otter Trail starts at the Storms River mouth . South Africa , officially the Republic of South Africa ( RSA ), is the southernmost country in Africa . It is bounded on the south by of coastline of Southern Africa stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans , on the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia , Botswana and Zimbabwe , and on the east and northeast by Mozambique and Swaziland , and surrounding the kingdom of Lesotho . South Africa is the 25th - largest country in the world by land area , and with close to 56 million people , is the world ' s 24th - most populous nation . It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere . It is the only country that borders both the ___MASK94___ and the ___MASK57___ . About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub - Saharan African ancestry , divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages , nine of which have official status . The remaining population consists of Africa ' s largest communities of European ( white ), Asian ( Indian ), and multiracial ( coloured ) ancestry .