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The Striptease trail is everything an avid hiker could want: a challenging walk over boulders and trail, ample places to take a dip to refresh oneself, and stunning scenery. Just make sure you bring plenty of water and food because this will take several hours to hike!
Some directions and tips:
To get to the Striptease trail, you’ll first have to drive to Tsitsikamma Lodge up the road from Thornham on N2.
The trail is out the back of the lodge, past lodge house number 17. You’ll have to check in at the front desk and give them your name so that they know you went back into the forest. They’ll also give you a map of the route with handy time estimates on it!
We didn’t pay any entrance fee.
In total, the hike took us about 4 hours with an hour-long break in the middle to eat lunch and bathe. It also depends on how many pools you’ll want to jump in along the way!
There are no bathrooms along the trail.
One more note: this is a challenging walk. If you have knee problems, or trouble squatting many, many times this will not be a comfortable experience! Also expect to be gone for several hours so leave early!
Our experience:
We started on the trail at 10:45am: a horizontal path dug through the still conifer tree farm behind the lodge. The sun wasn’t out yet. The weather report had told us that it would make an appearance later that day, but it was still chilly.
Hiking down into the gorge we saw the river which was stained brownish orange. My Eastern US experience told me it was polluted. Water doesn’t look like that! Jackson said otherwise. “According to the internet, it’s stained because of tannins in the leaves and soil.” Huh. So, it’s tea.
Jackson went on: “In the guide from the lodge, it says that the water is really clean. You could drink it if you wanted.” He squatted down by the bank for emphasis and pooled a handful of water in his palms. I watched, fighting down my anxieties about a rotting baboon putrefying the river water upstream and ultimately killing the love of my life, as he took a sip. “Yep. Tastes like tea.”
Ok. I’ll bite. Or sip. Yes! Weak tea!
The hike is called the Strip Tease trail because it is named after the pools that collect along the hike. The rock (limestone?) has been carved out over a long period of time by the river and formed pools that have been named very silly names like “Bikini Pool”
“Topless Pool” and “Bottomless Pool”, etc. (directions for the article of clothing you should take off when you dive in!).
Would I recommend this hike? Absolutely. It was one of the best hikes I’ve done.
The three of us had a lot of fun stripping off our clothes and being in the wilderness naked, because why not? We were the only ones there!
We jumped into the tea river at the end and it was divine! Cool, refreshing. We sundried on the pebbly beach as we ate our lunches.
The only thing I would caution against is taking the mountain route back to the lodge. In an attempt at a loop, hikers can take the high road back which walks along the crest of the mountains and gives the walkers views of the gorge and river from above. This route sucked: it was badly maintained and the underbrush was so bad we were worried we’d lose site of the trail.
Plus, we all got covered in cuts from all the scratchy bushes and leaves. Definitely avoid this route and just go back the way you came in.
We finished the day around 4pm after starting at 10:45am! A great day!
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Sounds like a fun hike. The names for the pools are so funny. I don’t know if I would have had the courage to drink from the river. I would love to go on this hike.
Haha! I didn’t have the courage either, but then I thought: eh, you only live once. Plus, it really did taste like tea LOL.
Oh wow, this is such a gorgeous trail. I’d love the scenery! Everything is so green.
It was so pretty. I loved having the whole trail to ourselves, that was really nice.
Haha this sounds like an interesting hike to go and take part in and hey looks like you keep to the themes with all the pools! Let’s hope they were warm.
Yes! We tried to stick to the themes 🙂 The water was a bit chilly, to be honest (mountain melt) but in the sun it felt really good.
Sounds like a fun hike! Do you know how long the trail is? Also is there any gear we should bring with us since this is a more challenging trail?
Great question! There are about 11 pools along the 5km trail and you’ll either need to walk in along the trail and back out along the mountain path (would not recommend that!) or walk in to the end and then back out the way you came (so about 10km in all)! As for gear, we didn’t use any, but if you have any hiking poles I’d bring those to help you gauge how deep some of the pools are before you step in a puddle or something like that!
I really like the “theme” of this hike! I’d love to do it myself, as I am an avid hiker. The fun element of it makes it exciting to go further and further, until you reach the nudity pool (?).
Right!? We were wondering what themes they would have at each pool. And, honestly, no one else was there so getting fully unclothed at the end was fun because it was just us anyway!
Oh, haha. I’m not sure that this is my cup of tea, but I have a few friends who would love to do this!
Oh wow, love how beautiful this trail is, and aren’t y’all confident. I would be so shy to try and go nude in the water plus I have a fear that anything in the water would absorb in my body.
This looks like SO much fun! Better not take my kiddos along, though – lots of questions to answer, HA!
Oh wow, I didn’t know about this place! This looks like such a challenge
Wow, great experience. Who can think of an idea of bottomless pool. Nature trails are bliss if you can manage those quick cuts. I would definitely bookmark this place. Thanks.
what this place sounds so awesome, totally down to checking out a hike like this. this would be perfect for the bucket list this summer. need to do some research.
I used to hike as a kid, but fell out of love with it when I became a surly teenager. This hike looked glorious (and challenging) What did you bring with you on the hike?
What a fun hike this looks like! When I first saw your post, I was unsure of how the striptease element was involved but then I kept reading on and wow. I have to do some research and see if there are any hikes like that near me.
What a beautiful hiking trail! I’m loving the looks of that stream… so beautiful!
It was a bit jarring to see the tea color, but once I got over that it was really pretty!
I’m not into hiking very much but it does sound fun. I loved your pictures, so natural and beautifil. Looks like you had really great time.
It was lovely there. 🙂
I dont like hikinh, but i got to admit the stripping is a good motivation for me 🙂
Interesting adventure for the summer 🙂
Haha, yeah the stripping was a lot of fun and each pool had a different theme!
Great experience. its looks very cool place. I would like to visit its,
Hope you can!
The names of these pools are so funny, I think I can guess what the name of the last one was. Lol.
So much fun though, I can only wish.
Hahah! Yeah, we had a lot of fun being there!
Oh my! Wow, this seems like a “freeing” experience, haha. I love the name of this trail and the pools! I think I’ll add this to my bucket-list. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
It is a lot of fun! 🙂
such a fun hike you had! what a cool experience too! i have not been hiking a in very long time but it’s always so refreshing and relaxing! also, i had never heard of tsitsikamma before