{"id":12530,"date":"2017-05-02T13:15:14","date_gmt":"2017-05-02T12:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/?p=12530"},"modified":"2021-03-08T13:06:08","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T13:06:08","slug":"discovering-the-chokka-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/2017\/05\/02\/discovering-the-chokka-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovering The Chokka Trail"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of my favourite things to do is walking in the countryside with our Jack Russell, Molly.\u00a0 Not just the daily walks around our village, but those that we do over the weekend, when we go a little further afield and discover a new path and more incredible scenery.\u00a0 Something that is easily done in the UK.
\nSouth Africa has some awe-inspiring options \u2013 one of my most memorable was the Otter Trail, which I did when I was a lot younger and probably less fit.\u00a0 The Otter Trail, which starts at Storms River and ends at Natures Valley is a tough 5 day trail, which entails a number of river crossings, and is rated as one of the best in the world.
\nIn recent years companies have started running trails in various parts of South Africa, to make the hike more enjoyable.\u00a0 They pick you up at a central point and transport you to the start, and then take care of your luggage for the duration of the trip.\u00a0\u00a0 This type of hiking holiday is called \u2018slackpacking\u2019.
\nOn a recent trip to Cape St Francis Resort<\/a>, I came across a \u2018slackpacking\u2019 operator, and the main trail they do is the Chokka Trail<\/a>.
\nChokka is a South African term used for Calamari or Squid.\u00a0 South Africa has a thriving Chokka industry, and all Chokka is exported (mainly to Spain).\u00a0 All calamari consumed in South Africa is imported (mainly from Patagonia).\u00a0 Why I don\u2019t know?
\nPort St Francis is the only private working harbour in the country and is home to the squid (or Chokka) industry.\u00a0 Having seen the Chokka boats along the Eastern Cape coast over the years, I found it interesting to learn more about the fascinating industry, but I digress \u2026
\nThe Chokka Trail is a 62 km (4 day \/ 3 night) slackpacking holiday, which starts at Oyster Bay and ends at Cape St Francis. The trail includes three fishing villages, sand dunes, protected fynbos (this area forms part of the Cape Floral Kingdom), and the incredible rugged coastline.\u00a0 You will also enjoy a cruise on the St Francis canals and enjoy a calamari tasting.
\nAnd then when you have discovered this incredible corner of South Africa and want to come back for more \u2013 why not try the Baviaans Camino \u2013 just a few miles inland, a little tougher perhaps, but the spectacular scenery makes it very worthwhile.
\nFor those who don\u2019t want to try the hiking trail, but still wish to visit the area, simply book in to stay at Cape St Francis Resort and explore the area from there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of my favourite things to do is walking in the countryside with our Jack Russell, Molly.\u00a0 Not just the daily walks around our village,…<\/p>\n

Continue readingDiscovering The Chokka Trail<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":12493,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[248,59,91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cape-st-francis-resort","category-south-africa","category-tourism","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}