From the first geocache hidden in South Africa, the reviewers who have published our geocaches, the introduction of EarthCaches and Wherigos, TV inserts about geocaching, the South African Geocoins and most prolific South African geocachers, find out how geocaching has evolved in South Africa.
Follow the adventures of South African geocachers who have shared their experiences with the geocaching community, whether caching in South Africa, around the world or attending special events. Lots of fun and exciting stories, along with all the photographic proof! Get their stories here.
This article is to remember those cachers who have passed away doing this great hobby / game / sport we play.
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Hosta was one of the very first South African geocachers, and hailed from Piet Retief in Mpumalanga. He was an avid nature lover and cyclist. Geocaching.com profile for hosta Please assist in filling in details |
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Barbara was a lady full of life. Extracted from the geocache listing below: Geocaching.com profile for veer-ini-hoed Some more info is available on cache GC26Q53 |
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Neil had a great passion for life and everything he did ... both in work to play. Neil was the first chairperson of GoSA, and he was instrumental in the planning and realisation of the GPS Power series in Gauteng. He was also involved in the first ever South African MEGA Event planning held in Pretoria in 2012. Neil also placed a few very clever caches. He was a famous FTF hunter in the Gauteng area. Geocaching.com profile for MadSons Some more info is available on cache GC3HZTN |
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Geocaching.com profile for BAKGAT Please assist in filling in details
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Colin had an avid interest in orienteering, and it was through that sport that he was introduced to geocaching. Geocaching.com profile for Colinbo Please assist in filling in some details
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Peter hailed from the Natal coastal area where he was a well known FTF hunter and cache hider. Geocaching.com profile for TechnoNut Please assist in filling in details |
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If you know of a cacher not listed here and would like to assist in completing the list, please send an email to with the details and a photo, and we will gladly add him / her to our page of remembrance.
After the death of a Geocacher that in life had been a member of Groundspeak’s Geocaching website (www.geocaching.com) and who had placed geocaches that are still active at the date of his/her death, the geocaches in question remain active. Without any clear instruction on how these geocaches should be dealt with, it is impossible for Groundspeak or other members of the Geocaching community to appropriately deal with these geocaches except by attrition over time as the geocaches get lost and are archived due to inadequate maintenance leading to the demise of the geocaches in question. This is an unsatisfactory circumstance as it can lead to the problem of geo-litter and/or the sterilisation of viable geocaching hiding spots while a protracted process of natural demise of the geocaches has to play out.
In order to facilitate the addressing of the abovementioned problems, it is suggested that a Geocacher can as a responsible member of the Geocaching community take active steps to prevent the problem from arising. Two such steps are:
It is submitted that there are essentially three possible actions that a Cache Owner can direct in these circumstances, namely:
The following are example texts of how a geocacher can direct the possible treatment of his/her geocaches by way of a provision in a will and/or a Reviewers Notice. It is important to note that the Adoption of geocaches will be performed subject to the applicable Groundspeak rules and to the extent that certain limitations exist e.g. on the adoption of certain geocache types, such rules will apply and the request by the geocacher in question will not override the Groundspeak rules.
For each of the three possible scenarios the example texts proposed below can be selected depending on what option the geocacher prefers:
Scenario 1:
The Cache Owner wishes all the active geocaches linked to his/her Groundspeak Profile to be archived.
Reviewers Note:
“Dear Reviewer,
I participate in the Geocaching game as a member registered on the Groundspeak website (www.geocaching.com) under the name [insert geocaching handle]. I have created various geocache listings and I am the Cache Owner of these geocaches. I herewith request that at my death any and all of the geocaches of which I am the Cache Owner should be archived forthwith. I herewith expressly authorise the relevant representatives of Groundspeak (including without limitation the volunteer geocache reviewers appointed for the area in which such geocaches are located) or any of Groundspeak’s successors in title to take all such steps that are necessary to give effect to this request that my geocaches should be archived. I also request that as part of the process of the archiving of the geocaches that the applicable Groundspeak Reviewers, with the assistance of the active geocaching community in the area where the caches are located, take reasonable steps to endeavour to remove the physical cache containers so as to ensure that my erstwhile geocaches do not contribute to geo-litter when I am no longer around to perform maintenance on the geocaches that I used to own.”
Provision in a Will:
“Geocaching
In life I participated in the Geocaching game as a member registered on the Groundspeak website (www.geocaching.com) under the name [insert geocaching handle] and as a result I spent countless enjoyable hours geocaching. As part of my participation in this pastime I have hidden various geocaches and created geocaching listings, the details of which are listed on the website in question. I herewith direct that at my death any and all of the geocaches of which I am the Cache Owner should forthwith be archived. I herewith expressly authorise the relevant representatives of Groundspeak (including without limitation the volunteer geocache reviewers appointed for the area in which such geocaches are located) or any of Groundspeak’s successors in title to take all such steps that are necessary to give effect to this wish of mine that my geocaches should be archived. I also direct that as part of the process of the archiving of the geocaches that the applicable Groundspeak Reviewers, with the assistance of the active geocaching community in the area where the caches are located, take reasonable steps to endeavour to remove the physical cache containers so as to ensure that my erstwhile geocaches do not contribute to geo-litter now that I am no longer around to perform maintenance on the geocaches that I used to own in life. Information regarding the current Groundspeak Reviewers appointed for the [insert] area can be obtained from Groundspeak, the contact details of which are available from the aforementioned website.”
Scenario 2
The Cache Owner wishes the active geocaches linked to his/her Groundspeak Profile to be adopted by a nominated Geocacher. This is typically an arrangement which the deceased Geocacher would have agreed with the nominated adopting Geocacher in question. However, the instruction is formulated in such a way that it also caters for the situation where the nominated Geocacher only wishes to adopt certain of the geocaches owned by the deceased Cache Owner.
Reviewers Note:
“Dear Reviewer,
I participate in the Geocaching game as a member registered on the Groundspeak website (www.geocaching.com) under the name [insert geocaching handle]. I have created various geocache listings and I am the Cache Owner of these geocaches. I herewith request that at my death any and all of the geocaches of which I am the Cache Owner should be offered for adoption by [insert full name and surname] who is also a registered member of the Groundspeak website under the name [insert nominated geocaching handle]. In the event that at my death [insert nominated geocaching handle] has pre-deceased me or is no longer registered as a member of the Groundspeak website or is only willing to adopt certain of the geocaches offered to him/her for adoption, then I request that any and all of my geocaches that can for these reasons not be adopted by [insert nominated geocaching handle] be archived forthwith.
In this regard I herewith expressly authorise the relevant representatives of Groundspeak (including without limitation the volunteer geocache reviewers appointed for the area in which such geocaches are located) or any of Groundspeak’s successors in title to take all such steps that are necessary to give effect to the requested adoption of my geocaches by [insert nominated geocaching handle] and/or the archiving of my geocaches in the circumstances indicated above. In the event that any of my geocaches need to be archived as part of executing this wish of mine relating to the handling of my geocaches upon my death, I also direct that as part of the process of the archiving of such geocaches that the applicable Groundspeak Reviewers, with the assistance of the active geocaching community in the area where the caches are located, take reasonable steps to endeavour to remove the affected physical cache containers so as to ensure that my erstwhile geocaches do not contribute to geo-litter now that I am no longer around to perform maintenance on the geocaches that I used to own. Information regarding the current Groundspeak Reviewers appointed for the [insert] area can be obtained from Groundspeak, the contact details of which are available from the aforementioned website.”
Provision in Will:
"Geocaching
In life I participated in the Geocaching game as a member registered on the Groundspeak website (www.geocaching.com) under the name [insert geocaching handle] and as a result I spent countless enjoyable hours geocaching. As part of my participation in this pastime I have hidden various geocaches and created geocaching listings, the details of which are listed on the website in question. I herewith direct that at my death any and all of the geocaches of which I am the Cache Owner should be offered for adoption by my dear geocaching friend [insert full name and surname] who is also a registered member of the Groundspeak website under the name [insert nominated geocaching handle]. In the event that at my death [insert nominated geocaching handle] has pre-deceased me or is no longer registered as a member of the Groundspeak website or is only willing to adopt certain of the geocaches offered to him/her for adoption, then I request that any and all of my geocaches that can for these reasons not be adopted by [insert nominated geocaching handle] be archived forthwith.
In this regard I herewith expressly authorise the relevant representatives of Groundspeak (including without limitation the volunteer geocache reviewers appointed for the area in which such geocaches are located) or any of Groundspeak’s successors in title to take all such steps that are necessary to give effect to the requested adoption of my geocaches by [insert nominated geocaching handle] and/or the archiving of my geocaches in the circumstances indicated above. In the event that any of my geocaches need to be archived as part of executing this determination of the handling of my geocaches upon my death, I also request that as part of the process of the archiving of such geocaches that the applicable Groundspeak Reviewers, with the assistance of the active geocaching community in the area where the caches are located, take reasonable steps to endeavour to remove the affected physical cache containers so as to ensure that my erstwhile geocaches do not contribute to geo-litter when I am no longer around to perform maintenance on the geocaches that I used to own."
Scenario 3
The Cache Owner wishes the active geocaches linked to his/her Groundspeak Profile to be offered by the Groundspeak Reviewers for adoption to active members of the geocaching community and any caches which are not adopted pursuant to such an offer will then be archived. The instruction is formulated in such a way that the Cache Owner can specify a qualifying requirement that adopting Cache Owners have to meet.
Reviewers Note:
“Dear Reviewer,
I participate in the Geocaching game as a member registered on the Groundspeak website (www.geocaching.com) under the name [insert geocaching handle]. I have created various geocache listings and I am the Cache Owner of these geocaches. I herewith request that at my death Groundspeak should offer any and all of the geocaches of which I am the Cache Owner at the time of my death for adoption to active members of the geocaching community who are registered members of the Groundspeak website www.geocaching.com provided that such geocacher(s) have at least [insert number] geocache finds and [insert number] active geocache hides. Any and all geocaches of which I am Cache Owner at the time of my death that Groundspeak does not succeed in arranging the adoption of within a reasonable time of my death, should be forthwith archived by Groundspeak.
In this regard I herewith expressly authorise the relevant representatives of Groundspeak (including without limitation the volunteer geocache reviewers appointed for the area in which such geocaches are located) or any of Groundspeak’s successors in title to take all such steps that are necessary to give effect to the requested adoption of my geocaches and/or the archiving of my geocaches in the circumstances indicated above. In the event that any of my geocaches need to be archived as part of executing this wish of mine relating to the handling of my geocaches upon my death, I also request that as part of the process of the archiving of such geocaches that the applicable Groundspeak Reviewers, with the assistance of the active geocaching community in the area where the caches are located, take reasonable steps to endeavour to remove the affected physical cache containers so as to ensure that my erstwhile geocaches do not contribute to geo-litter when I am no longer around to perform maintenance on the geocaches that I used to own.”
Provision in Will:
"Geocaching
In life I participated in the Geocaching game as a member registered on the Groundspeak website (www.geocaching.com) under the name [insert geocaching handle] and as a result I spent countless enjoyable hours geocaching. As part of my participation in this pastime I have hidden various geocaches and created geocaching listings, the details of which are listed on the website in question. I herewith direct that at my death Groundspeak should offer any and all of the geocaches of which I was the Cache Owner at the time of my death for adoption to active members of the geocaching community who are registered members of the Groundspeak website (www.geocaching.com) provided that such geocacher(s) have at least [insert number] geocache finds and [insert number] active geocache hides. Any and all geocaches of which I was Cache Owner at the time of my death that Groundspeak does not succeed in arranging the adoption of within a reasonable time of my death, should be forthwith archived by Groundspeak.
In this regard I herewith expressly authorise the relevant representatives of Groundspeak (including without limitation the volunteer geocache reviewers appointed for the area in which such geocaches are located) or any of Groundspeak’s successors in title to take all such steps that are necessary to give effect to the requested adoption of my geocaches and/or the archiving of my geocaches in the circumstances indicated above. In the event that any of my geocaches need to be archived as part of executing this determination of the handling of my geocaches upon my death, I also direct that as part of the process of the archiving of such geocaches that the applicable Groundspeak Reviewers, with the assistance of the active geocaching community in the area where the caches are located, take reasonable steps to endeavour to remove the affected physical cache containers so as to ensure that my erstwhile geocaches do not contribute to geo-litter now that I am no longer around to perform maintenance on the geocaches that I used to own."
Virtuals are a special geocache type where there is no physical container hidden and they are more about discovering a location rather than a container. This cache type was grandfathered in 2005 and no new virtuals could be created since then. On 24 August 2017, Geocaching HQ announced that approximately 4000 geocachers had been selected and given the opportunity to create a new virtual cache. Read about it on the blog and listen to the podcast here.
South Africa is home to very few virtuals and before August 2017, there were only 7 in the country with 1 in Nelspruit and the others in Cape Town.
Geocaching was still in its infancy in South Africa when virtuals could be created and there were only 14 virtuals created and published with 7 subsequently being archived over the years. Interestingly, 13 of the virtuals were placed in the Western Cape with no other provinces besides Mpumalanga having ever had a virtual geocache.
As of 21 March 2018, 12 new virtuals can now be found, four in Cape Town, three in Port Elizabeth, one in Pietermaritzburg, one in Durban, one in the Kruger National Park, one in Pretoria and one in Johannesburg. We look forward to seeing more being published soon!
Virtuals created 2017-2018 | ||
Lighthouses of Algoa Bay | GC7B9CE | Port Elizabeth |
Shark Rock Pier | GC7B9ZV | Port Elizabeth |
Jubilee square | GC7B96X | Simon's Town |
Company's Garden | GC7B764 | Cape Town |
Cape Town/Table Mountain Virtual Reward | GC7B84E | Cape Town |
Into 7th Heaven | GC7B8X0 | Cape Town |
Route 67 - The Campanile | GC7B9NH | Port Elizabeth |
ABW - The Guardian | GC7B72D | Pietermaritzburg |
Moses Mabhida Stadium | GC7B8TD | Durban |
Mlondozi | GC7BA00 | Kruger National Park |
The Cenotaph | GC7B801 | Pretoria |
Constitution Hill | GC7B718 | Johannesburg |
South African Emergency Services Numbers | |
Police | 10111 |
Emergency/Rescue from cell phone | 10177 |
Travel doctor | 0861 300 911 |
Tourism Safety & Support Reporting | 0861 874 911 |
Road & Traffic Information/Reporting | 084 3030 345 |
Tourism & Travel Information | 083 123 6789 |
Telephone enquiries | 1023 |
Every month there is a Geocacher of the Month award awarded to an outstanding Geocaching team. South Africa boasts four awardees:
Congratulations to all of you and thank you for contributing so much to our community!
If you know a team/geocacher which deserves to be Geocacher of the Month, be sure to nominate them/him/her using this form.
This website is all about the South African geocaching community. However, we use the global website geocaching.com as the resource to play the game.
Watch the official "What is Geocaching?" video, it is only 75 seconds long.
If you are new to geocaching, follow these four simple steps to find your first geocache:
1. Create an account
You need to register with geocaching.com, which is where the game is played from all over the world. Click here for a shortcut to the registration page. Once you have registered and set up your account, you are ready to go looking for geocaches.
2. See where the nearby geocaches are
You can do this in two ways.
Firstly, you could search on geocaching.com using their Search Page. Enter your city or province or coordinates and you will get all the nearby geocaches.
Alternatively, you can use Geocaching's smartphone apps, there is an Android one, an iOS one and a Windows Store one. Simply download the app, make sure it is authorised to use your smartphone's GPS location services, and login using your newly created geocaching.com account. You can then see which geocaches are nearby.
3. Go looking for your first geocache.
When you start geocaching, you should start looking for larger containers that are easier to find, and so you should ideally try look for geocaches that are:
Cache Type: Traditional
Difficulty Rating: 2 or less
Cache Size: Regular or Large
You should also check to see that other geocachers have recently logged finds on the cache page (also called the cache listing). This indicates that the geocache is most likely still in place and findable. Find logs are indicated on the cache page with a smiley face.
Make sure you read all about that geocache, it could tell you more about where it is hidden, and what to expect when you get to the hiding place.
Once you have all the information about the geocache that you want to search for, it is time to go looking for it. Make sure you take a pen or pencil with, you may need it to sign the log. If you are using a smartphone, you can simply use the app to take you to the hidden location. If you are taking the information off the website, you can input the coordinates which are shown at the top of the page into any GPS device to find your way there.
4. Log your find
After you have found the geocache, you should:
• Sign the logbook in the geocache.
• Trade an item from the cache if you like - just make sure to leave something of equal or greater value in its place.
• Replace the geocache back exactly as you found it, even if you think you see a better spot for it.
• Log your find on geocaching.com and share your experience with everyone. Cache owners like to hear about your experience when you go looking for their geocaches.
Don't worry initially if everything seems very complicated, over time you get the experience to become a more proficient geocacher. To help you out, we have several other resources on this website:
• detailed Glossary explaining all the jargon
• detailed FAQ to learn more about finding and hiding geocaches
• list of other useful online resources
• list of events at which you can meet other geocachers
• list of online groups (mostly facebook based) in which you can interact with other geocachers
HAPPY HUNTING!
Planning a geocaching vacation/day and want to find one of the oldest geocaches near you? Be sure to check out the list below and see if it fits in with your plans!
Eastern Cape: | |
Geocache: | Date placed: |
Port Elizabeth - C St Francis | 30 Dec 2001 |
New Gariep Dam | 20 Jun 2002 |
van Staden's Flower Power - PE | 18 May 2003 |
Ferndale Adventure | 7 Jul 2003 |
Colchester climb | 27 Jul 2003 |
Dodd's Farm | 23 Aug 2003 |
Just another brick in the wall – Baviaans | 7 Sep 2003 |
Arc of 30th Meridian #1 – Buffelsfontein | 19 Oct 2003 |
Onder Kouga | 5 Jan 2004 |
Loerie Dam | 22 Mar 2004 |
Free State: |
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Geocache: | Date placed: |
MADIBA trail Bloemfontein | 20 May 2001 |
N1 Sandriver | 15 Oct 2001 |
N1 Stilfontein Blockhouse | 26 Oct 2001 |
Just Climb It | 13 Apr 2003 |
Dragons Cave | 28 Jun 2003 |
Women's Monument | 26 Mar 2005 |
Platberg | 26 Mar 2005 |
Brandwag | 18 Jun 2005 |
Vredefort Koepel Earthcache | 24 Jul 2005 |
MECA | 30 Jul 2005 |
Gauteng: |
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Geocache: | Date placed: |
Pretoria-East 001: | 29 Jul 2001 |
JOHANNESBURG SOUTH-1C | 15 Nov 2001 |
Smuts House, Irene | 5 Jan 2002 |
Thaba Voortrekkers II | 27 Mar 2003 |
The right 4x4 trail | 4 May 2003 |
Walk with the Cheetah *GP* | 6 Jul 2003 |
Place of Salt | 10 Aug 2003 |
Urban Tag #1 | 24 Sep 2004 |
Reporters Riddle #1 | 12 Oct 2003 |
Reporters Riddle #2 | 12 Oct 2003 |
KwaZulu-Natal: |
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Geocache: | Date placed: |
Bivane Dam | 24 Jul 2002 |
Windy Corner | 01 Sep 2003 |
Act of the 30th Meridian #13 - Hluku | 24 Sep 2003 |
Ongoye | 21 Oct 2003 |
Nkutu | 5 Jun 2004 |
Hilldrop View | 25 Jun 2004 |
ND Botanical Garden | 26 Jul 2004 |
Baboon Rock | 01 Aug 2004 |
Kloof Falls Viewpoint | 09 Aug 2004 |
Dumbe Mountain | 04 Sep 2004 |
Limpopo: |
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Geocache: | Date placed: |
Yebo Gogo | 12 May 2002 |
Serendipity | 14 Sep 2003 |
Klipspringer Lookout | 26 May 2004 |
African Wild Dogs | 28 Aug 2004 |
The Towers at Marakele | 17 Dec 2004 |
Forest Getaway | 25 Oct 2005 |
Cross Check | 09 Nov 2005 |
"Keep-us-all?" | 21 Apr 2006 |
Nylsvley View | 02 Jul 2006 |
Blouberg Views | 02 Jul 2006 |
Mpumalanga: |
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Geocache: | Date placed: |
Eucaliptus | 2 Apr 2001 |
LOGO | 12 Sep 2001 |
food for thought | 10 Jan 2002 |
Lapamanti | 06 Jul 2003 |
Botshabelo cache | 30 Dec 2004 |
African Ivory Route View | 13 May 2005 |
Doornkop | 14 May 2005 |
The Highlanders 2nd Lookout | 14 Aug 2005 |
Botshabelo series - Fort Merensky | 31 Oct 2005 |
Northern Cape: |
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Geocache: | Date placed: |
R385 Posmansburg | 21 Nov 2001 |
Namaqua cache | 22 Dec 2001 |
Halfmens Cache - Richtersveld | 04 Jul 2002 |
Papkuilsfontein 4x4 | 20 Aug 2002 |
Bushpig Travelers | 21 Aug 2003 |
Rooiberg | 02 Apr 2004 |
van Rhynspass | 12 Jun 2004 |
Kalahari Guesthouse | 25 Mar 2005 |
Namaqua Prison | 28 May 2005 |
R64 Counter Grobelaarshoop | 10 Dec 2005 |
North West: |
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Geocache: | Date placed: |
Magaliesberg I | 30 Jun 2001 |
The Dome | 21 Apr 2002 |
North West's Best View | 24 Sep 2003 |
Fish Eagle | 31 Jan 2004 |
Klerksdorp cache | 13 Mar 2004 |
De Wildt | 05 Dec 2004 |
Across an Olive | 27 Dec 2005 |
Klipspringer | 14 Apr 2006 |
Duiker | 30 Apr 2006 |
Grotto | 25 Jun 2006 |
Western Cape: |
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Geocache: | Date placed: |
Sentinel View | 18 Jan 2001 |
Cape Agulhas | 21 Apr 2001 |
Geocache | 29 Apr 2001 |
Swartberg Pass | 11 Aug 2001 |
Blood, Sweat and Sandy Bay | 8 Sep 2001 |
Houtbay | 13 Oct 2001 |
Danger Bay | 27 Nov 2001 |
Muizenberg, Cape Town | 09 Dec 2001 |
Amphitheatre, Kalk Bay | 27 Dec 2001 |
Geocache | 13 Jan 2002 |
The ten oldest active geocaches in South Africa were all placed between January and September 2001.
Geocache: | Date placed (2001): | Province: |
Sentinel View | 18 January | Western Cape |
Eucaliptus | 2 April | Mpumalanga |
Cape Agulhas | 21 April | Western Cape |
Geocache | 29 April | Western Cape |
MADIBA trail Bloemfontein | 20 May | Free State |
Magaliesberg 1 | 30 July | North West |
Pretoria-East 001: | 29 July | Gauteng |
Swartberg Pass | 11 August | Western Cape |
Blood, Sweat and Sandy Bay | 8 September | Western Cape |
LOGO | 12 September | Mpumalanga |
These geocaches all have a special historical significance and should be looked after. Unfortunately many of the original cache owners are inactive so if you plan on finding these old geocaches, please perform some maintenance should you find them in a bad state. This will help to keep them in top condition to ensure they are available to find way into the future.
Every week since 2010, Groundspeak has selected a special geocache as 'Geocache of the Week'. Visit the Geocaching blog to see all the active Geocaches of the Week and the most recent awardees here.
There have been seven South African Geocaches of the Week:
19 December 2011 - Table Top Trove
17 September 2012 - Table Mountain Travel Bug Hotel
1 November 2012 - Awaken the Leviathan
20 March 2013 - Antron's Puzzle Box II
30 April 2015 - SS: Lusitania
28 September 2016 - Intersect 2.0
11 November 2016 - Table Mountain Travel Bug Hotel A second time!
It is a huge honour to have a geocache receive this momentous award! Congratulations to Richter family, CapeDoc, paddawan, adilawson, Antron, BoazRuthFields and family Behrens!
If you know of a geocache which deserves to be Geocache of the Week, be sure to nominate it using this form.
Geocaching makes it into the media every now and then.
2005:
On October the 20th 2005 the Top Billing show on SABC 3 aired a show about geocaching. Discombob from Cape Town was interviewed, and the presenters did a multi cache around Cape Town. At the time there were 18,000 active geocaches worldwide, and only 350 active geocaches in South Africa. The final location of the "race" as the presenters did it is still active today
There was a discussion on the South African forum here and here. The video is now available again on YouTube here
2011:
Johannesburg Development agency article - Go get your geocache
2012:
Country Life Magazine article - Geocaching
Mail and Guardian article - Treasure Hunt goes digital
Capetownmagazine.com - Geocaching in the Mother City
Jhb Live article - Treasure Hunting in the City of Gold
2014:
Geocaching was featured on the TV programme Pasella - See the video here
2015:
IOL Article - Geocaching: 21st century treasure hunt
Article in Die Buite Burger newspaper - Reis so soek-soek deur die wêreld
What's On featured an article by Jonker Fourie - Aahhrrrrr... there be treasure
GEO936 was interviewed in July 2015 by Cape Talk, see the article and hear the interview here
2016:
Y Go E-magazine - Why consider geocaching for your next roadtrip
Vrouekeur Magazine article - Page 1, Page 2
Lekkaslaap.co.za - 'n Ware skattejag
View geocaching.com's news archive here
If you are aware of any other articles or videos not included in this list, please send the details to us.
The start of Geocaching in South Africa:
The very first geocache in South Africa was hidden on the 14th January 2001, 8 months after the 1st geocache in America, and was hidden by team 'GPSFrodo'. The geocache was called 'GCZA01' (GC163) and was the 163rd cache worldwide.
This cache was only found once by team 'Jors'. From their log:
Quite a feeling of acomplishment came over me as I saw the stash where it was hidden, the walk was well worth it!
...
I really enjoyed this, and will hide my own one of these other hot! days.
Lets keep this fun thing going!!
It took team 'Jors' another 9 years and 3 months to make good on their promise and placed a cache called 'GCZA01.2' (GC1RNAY) very close to the original first cache as a way to commemorate the first South African placement.
Team 'Jors' also has the very first South African swag item, a watch, as a Travel bug, which can be discovered at certain events.
The 2nd geocache hidden was 'Sentinel View' (GC185) and hidden on the 18th January 2001, only 4 days after the first one, and was hidden by 'Prof Charles Merry'. The geocache, or stash as it was known at the time, was first found by team 'netic' on the 3rd of February 2001. From their log:
After a 40 minute hike we found the cache about 5 meters off the gps spot.
It turned out to be a spectacular view and well worth the walk.
This geocache is still active and still contains the original log book. It is currently the oldest geocache in South Africa.
The geocachers of Cape Town organised a 10 year anniversary celebration on the 10th of January 2011. A video of the event can be seen here on YouTube.
The uptake of Geocaching in South Africa:
Geocaching was slow in taking off with team 'Peter Scholtz' and team 'Chris Smith' (now known as Chrisbloem) planting most of the geocaches around the South African landscape in the first 2 years.
In the 1st year (being 2001) only 72 geocaches were hidden.
The 2nd year saw 84 added and in 2003 there were a total of 250 hidden.
At the beginning of 2005 there were a total of 343 hidden, and then geocaching started taking off as at the end of 2005 there were a total of 703 hidden, almost doubling the cache count.
The perspectives of early geocachers were very different to those starting out now and here are a few examples:
On the forum (here) Brick stated this in January 2008:
"...In Mpumalanga Snowwolf placed a few, and those days 4 caches in an area justified a trip there."
Peter Scholtz's perspective on the game of geocaching here is a very interesting read.
Geocaches hidden over 2002-2014:
Cache count hidden per province:
Province | 2002 | 2004 | 2006 | 2008 | 2010 | 2012 | 2014 |
Limpopo | 2 | 8 | 30 | 252 | 340 | 408 | 468 |
Northern Cape | 13 | 19 | 34 | 67 | 127 | 192 | 220 |
Free State | 13 | 17 | 58 | 148 | 385 | 689 | 833 |
Mpumalanga | 8 | 17 | 271 | 494 | 751 | 996 | 1 241 |
Gauteng | 9 | 46 | 384 | 963 | 1 629 | 3 269 | 4 530 |
North West | 6 | 14 | 37 | 163 | 238 | 396 | 511 |
Western Cape | 89 | 148 | 621 | 944 | 1 642 | 2 378 | 3 337 |
KwaZulu-Natal | 8 | 39 | 198 | 584 | 1 096 | 1 868 | 3 180 |
Eastern Cape | 8 | 35 | 140 | 470 | 671 | 955 | 1 797 |
*Note: This is the hidden count at the end of each two year period. This is NOT the same as the active (to be found) count.
Southern Africa, excluding South Africa, includes the following countries:
Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The first geocache was hidden in Namibia on the 20th September 2001, by team "aapje" with the cache name "Hiddenvlei" (GC21C1), and found for the 1st time 6 months later on the 5th April 2002, by team "Peter Robson".
The next country on the map was Swaziland with Southern Africa's 7th virtual cache, by team "hosta". It was hidden on 7th of April 2002 and found for the 1st time on the 22nd January 2003, just over 11 months later by team "GPSJane". Team "hosta" has since past away, and most of his caches around the Piet Retief area are now disabled.
Country | 2002 | 2004 | 2006 | 2008 | 2010 | 2012 | 2014 | 2016 |
Angola | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 16 | 20 | 35 | 36 |
Botswana | 0 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 24 | 51 | 76 | 77 |
Lesotho | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 17 | 28 | 23 |
Madagascar | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 17 | 14 |
Malawi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 13 | 22 | 20 |
Mozambique | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 26 | 39 | 50 | 37 |
Namibia | 4 | 19 | 39 | 86 | 131 | 247 | 315 | 295 |
Swaziland | 1 | 3 | 6 | 26 | 37 | 63 | 71 | 63 |
Zambia | 0 | 1 | 8 | 11 | 25 | 26 | 34 | 34 |
Zimbabwe | 0 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 19 | 77 | 201 | 309 |
For a long time South Africa was just one huge single region on the geocaching.com web site. That all changed around May 2008. Groundspeak added all 9 provinces as a cache placement selection, and the geocaching community, new and seasoned geocachers, all rallied together and added provinces to all their existing geocache descriptions. More than ninety percent of all geocaches were updated within 4 or 5 days.
If memory serves us correctly the reviewers at the time were able to go into the archived geocaches and update those provinces.
Africa and South Africa have had a few reviewers over time.
The first reviewer was erik88l-r (Eric van Dyk from the USA - who is one of the original global reviewers who has been reviewing continuously since 2001) and is an American geocacher who reviewed caches for the African continent. He was often supported by another long time international reviewer – Crow-T-Robot.
Eric came out to South Africa in December 2007 and met the various geocachers in each region on his visit.
Team "Fish Eagle" then took over the role of reviewing caches from March 2008 till February 2011, and gave over the reins to team "ROTSIP" who was soon joined by team "PTE Curb". For a short time team "Ingwe9” also reviewed South African caches.
Another two South African expats are also involved in reviewing – team "Xanthe Terra", based in the UK after relocating from Abu Dhabi, who looks after the Middle East and assists in North Africa, and team "protea sangomas" is a reviewer for Norway.
All EarthCaches were originally reviewed by the Geological Society of America (GSA), but due to team "Carbon Hunter" placing so many earth caches on the African continent, and being in the same line of work, he was offered the position to review earth caches for the Africa and Middle East area. He used the reviewers team name of "geoawareAFR”, and has since taken up the role as a non-EarthCache Reviewer using the name “Africa Rocks".
EarthCaches started rather slowly in South Africa, with the first (GCPX24) being placed at the Vredefort dome in July 2005 by Team Bjbez. After approaching the geological society of South Africa and using the Johannesburg centenary geological trail as a starting point, Carbon Hunter managed to increase the numbers dramatically, mainly in Gauteng, and soon others were popping up all over the place as more geocachers started placing EarthCaches around the country.
By late 2009 there were 100 in South Africa – and now they are reasonably common across all southern Africa countries. The appeal of placing an EarthCache is that once placed and approved there is very little, to almost no maintenance, required.
The EarthCache Masters awards program is also very popular – with many local geocachers qualifying for the top Platinum status. However, with the distinct lack of large numbers compared to Europe and the US in particular – there have been only a handful of local geocachers who have reached the “Mica” Discovery level of 100 EarthCache finds – and the “Garnet” level (250+ EarthCache finds) remains likely to only a small handful of local geocachers – lead by the inimitable team iPajero.
Country | 2002 | 2004 | 2006 | 2008 | 2010 | 2012 | 2014 | 2016 |
Angola | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 12 |
Botswana | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 9 |
Lesotho | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
Malawi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Mozambique | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Namibia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 12 | 19 | 22 | 25 |
South Africa | 0 | 0 | 3 | 41 | 141 | 171 | 257 | 361 |
Swaziland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Zimbabwe | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 14 |
As at August 2017 there are about 27 000 EarthCaches worldwide. There are approximately 380 EarthCaches in South Africa, and this gives local geocachers access to a little under 1½ % of the world's EarthCaches.
More info here about the EarthCache Masters program.
More info here about the EarthCache Discovery Awards (EDA)
Groundspeak released Wherigos in January 2008, and it took only 3 months for the first one to be released in South Africa aptly named "Wherigo Takes Off in SA" (GC1BB15) by team "Gerald".
As at the beginning of 2015 there are more than 20 Wherigos active in South Africa, check them out here.
Lab caches are special caches that are extremely rare, and made as a way for Groundspeak to innovate and test new geocache types. South Africa saw its first set of Lab caches with Southern Africa's 2nd MEGA event in Durban where there were a total of 10 released. Only attendees at the Mega event could find and log these lab caches.
It took a long time for power trails to take off in South Africa. Team "MadSons" brought the first power trail to fruition by rallying the Pretoria and Johannesburg geocachers together to form a 170 km trail around the Gauteng area.
Power trails were born out of two factors. The first factor is that two geocaches may not (normally) be placed within 0.1 mile, or 161 meters, from each other. The second factor is that there are teams who want to know how many caches they can do within a 24 hour day.
So to complete the GPS (Gauteng Power Series) trail one should start at midnight, cache like crazy for 24 hours and then finish again at midnight. To find all 680 odd geocaches, a cache must be found around every 2 to 3 minutes, depending on what your target is.
There are teams that are against power trails, as they see it as taking away the *family* element from geocaching, and making it more about the numbers. It is one thing to get 1000 finds with 600 odd GPS geocaches. It is another thing to find 1000 geocaches without the GPS series.
To try and complete all 686 GPS trail geocaches within 24 hours one can use the following formula:
24 Hours × 60 minutes per hour = 1440 minutes.
1440 minutes divided by 686 geocaches = 2.01 minutes per geocache.
To achieve the top GSAK badge for "caches in a single day" one only needs to find 400 geocaches.
Working on around a 10% DNF ratio one should plan to look for around 450 geocaches. This means that
450 geocaches in 1440 minutes (24 Hours) means a cache must be found every 3 minutes.
Geo-Art is the placement of geocaches so that it forms some kind of symbol or picture. In the urban environment it usually makes use of puzzle caches so that the geocache container does not have to be hidden where the initial coordinates are listed, allowing the owners to fit the pattern into the area, and hide the containers nearby.
The first Geo-Art in South Africa was placed in August 2012 and called 'Our heart is in PE' series, consisting of traditional caches in the flower reserve just outside Port Elizabeth, with the 'Question Mark' following a year later in Pretoria over the Waterkloof Air Force base. A month later in Oct 2013 the 20 caches spelling out the letters 'PE' were added to the South African landscape. Before the year was over the town of Hermanus got its signature added with a whale consisting of 20 caches. It took almost another year before the next item was added, again in PE, with the PE Love series consisting of a Wherigo trail. The geocachers of Gauteng rallied together and about 15 teams brought 86 geocaches to life spelling out the word 'PRETORIA' in March 2014. KwaZulu-Natal then published their first Geo-Art with the ABC Trail just south east of Pietermaritzburg in February 2015 with the Hill Lighthouse appearing in Port Elizabeth also at that time. During 2015, the Western Cape also added their Arrow van Parow Geo-Art in February, the Sunningdale Mystery Series in November and the Puzzler's Revenge Geo-Art in December. January 2016 saw the Orchestra Geo-Art appear over Durban harbour with a dodo egg and anchor appearing in 2017.
Name | Placed | Number of caches | General Location |
Our heart is in PE | Aug 2012 | 8 | Map |
Pretoria Question Mark | Aug 2013 | 10 | Map |
PE | Oct 2013 | 20 | Map |
Hermanus Whale | Nov 2013 | 20 | Map |
PE Love | Aug 2014 | 12 | Map |
Pretoria | Mar 2014 | 86 | Map |
ABC Trail | Feb 2015 | 51 | Map |
Arrow van Parow |
Feb 2015 | 11 | Majority archived |
The Hill Lighthouse |
Feb 2015 | 37 | Map |
Sunningdale Mystery Series |
Nov 2015 | 9 | Map |
Puzzler's Revenge |
Dec 2015 | 9 | Map |
Orchestra Series |
Jan 2016 | 26 | Map |
Dodo Egg |
Mar 2017 | 20 | Map |
Gordon's Bay Anchor |
Aug 2017 | 25 | Map |
To see Geo-Art from around the world, visit this Pinterest page.
If you speak to some of the seasoned geocachers you will find out geocaching was quite different in the early days. With only 500 to 700 geocaches available at the end of 2004, some teams would take a drive to another province when two new geocaches were published (find link in forum). If a cache was planted in a park, that was the only cache in that park (and sometimes even in the suburb).
These days it is not uncommon to see 4 or 5 geocaches in the same park if the park is big enough.
In the early days it was mostly 'geeks' and people in the geological industry, who had access to GPS receivers, who played the game. Over time GPS receiver technology has become a lot cheaper and more accessible to the general population. "Paperless caching" was a big term around 2008 as a lot of geocachers would print out the geocache page and then go geocaching. Hints were also manually decoded on the printed out page to find out what the hint was. With the technology becoming more accessible, and put into smartphone the "old" way of geocaching is gone. The numbers in the "old", pre 2008, days was a lot *bigger* then they are today.
In 2006 it was almost unheard of that a team had more than 1 000 finds. In 2010 quite a few teams had broken the 2 000 barrier.
As at February 2017 only 25 South African teams have broken the 4 000 geocache mark. There is one South African team, team "iPajero", who went through the 16 000 mark in 2016. Two South African teams have more than 7 000 finds, "quiddle" and "The Huskies". There are another three South African based teams, "rodnjoan", "cownchicken" and "Tricky Vicky & Mickey" who have achieved more that 6 000 finds.
You can see the most prolific South African geocachers at CacherStats.com
For the history of the South African geocoins the coins are divided into 2 groups. The first group is coins commissioned by South African geocachers, and the 2nd group are all other "South African" themed geocoins.
South African commissioned geocoins
The very first geocoin minted by a South African was the geocacher_coza coin minted by team "geocacher_coza", from Vereeniging, in 2005. This was a non trackable coin, but did have a sequential sequence number on each coin. It is estimated that a total of 500 were minted.
Team "Fish Eagle" produced a "Fish Eagle" coin in 2006 which was the first trackable geocoin, and was produced in the Netherlands.
It seems like 2007 was the South African geocoin year as 4 coins were minted by 3 separate teams. Team "NotBlonde" created what is now known as the "South African Big 5" geocoin, and team "CrystalFairy" created two coins. The "Adrenalin" geocoin (first run of 250 coins) and the once off limited edition "CrystalFairy" gold coin produced with permission of Selena Fenich the designer. Only 250 of these coins were made. Team "The Huskies" from Cape Town, also produced a paw print coin in 2007.
In 2008, team "Eragon Saphira" produced the very first South African, designed and minted, geocoin at the Gold Reef City mint. Up to the end of 2014 this is still the only "in South Africa" minted coin. As the facilities at the GRC mint are limited the coin is not as nice as the other coins minted overseas.
2 Years later, 2010 saw the 2nd run of team "Fish Eagle" coins, as well as team "The Huskies" Soccer World Cup coin.
2011 was the 10 year anniversary of geocaching in South Africa. Team "Cape Doc" designed a lovely South Africa shaped coin with a spinning "zero", in 4 different finishes which was another first for South Africa. The finishes were: Satin Gold, Antique Silver, Antique Gold, and Antique Copper. Team "Urban Campers" closed 2011 with a 50 coin run of a round blue coin bearing their team name.
The only coins created in 2012 was for South Africa's first MEGA event held at the Voortrekker monument in October 2012. There were 6 coins minted for the grand occasion with the following finishes: Antique Silver, Antique Gold, Satin Silver (a limited edition), Satin Gold (a limited edition), Shiny Silver (a limited edition) and Nickel Silver (a limited edition).
The next set of geocoins commissioned by South Africans was for Africa's 2nd MEGA event held in Kwazulu-Natal in 2014. 4 Coins were minted, 3 being of the same design, with 3 different finishes (Bronze, Silver and Gold), and a 4th Limited Edition coin with a separate design.
Other South African themed geocoins
In 2006 a geocaching team from the Netherlands (a team called "Myth") visited South Africa, and produced the first non South African commissioned geocoin. In 2007 Groundspeak followed suit and created a coin where Signal the Frog flew over South Africa in a balloon. In 2011 a South African flag micro coin was created. Late in 2011 Travel Bugs were starting to appear with different countries flags on them, and South Africa was one of them.
South African commissioned geocoins
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Other South African themed geocoins
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Other South African non trackable (wooden) geocoins
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If you have any additional coin info please contact us on or post a message on Facebook.
Geocachers tend to make things a little more interesting, and one way to make things interesting it to have a Travel Bug or Geocoin race.
The idea is to release a lot of travel bugs and allow them to hop from cache to cache and then keep track of which one gets the most distance or the most points.
South Africa has hosted many TB races over the past few years.
The 1st race was hosted by Africard and was won by Whostops.
The 2nd race was hosted by Globalrat.
The 3rd race was held in 2007 named "There could only be one", and hosted by QFC and Noddy. The race was won by a TB named "Rupert Rex", and is / was owned by Tricky Vicky.
The 4th race ..... (is a mystery at this point)
The 5th race was held in 2009 with the name of "The 2009 Great South African TB Race" and scored by team "cincol", with the web site hosted on sageostats.co.za.
The 6th race was held in 2011 and focused on photos of the photos of the TBs wherever they went, and was hosted by BruceTP on http://www.pantland.co.za/2011Race/Home.html
The 7th race was held in 2012 and the kick-off was the 2012 MEGA event. Scoring was done by BruceTP. There were two difference races, and the rules are available on the event page that started the race.
The 8th race was held in 2014, and only open to people living around the Port Elizabeth area, and was scored by team "Bremar Josrut"
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