GoSA Grapevine April 2017 - All About The Numbers

All About The Numbers
Dönerstag Souvenir 2017
CITO Weeks 2017
Film Festival 2017
Nelson Mandela Bay Annual Caching Weekend

All About The Numbers

We all know that geocaching is about the numbers and the statistics as much as it is about the finds, isn't it? We asked our own South African stats guru, Danie Viljoen, to share some of his recent analysis with us.

Cache densities in Africa

It is one thing to know that South Africa currently has 14117 caches and say Egypt has 286. But how do they really compare if one takes their cache densities into account? The following map shows the cache density for the whole continent (and surrounding islands) with a 5km resolution:

The real stars here are South Africa (at this resolution the highest density in Africa is in Port Elizabeth) and a number of the islands: primarily the Canary Islands and Madeira.

Favourite caches
Which South African caches got the most new favourite points during the last year?

GC Code	Cache Name	Owner	New FPs
GC31WXR	Table Mountain Travel Bug Hotel	CapeDoc	66 FPs
GC5Y00Q	Tardis	family Behrens	57 FPs
GC5BWV4	UP PERISCOPE	family Behrens	39 FPs
GC5D3BX	The Vault	Henzz	38 FPs
GC548HP	Intersect 2.0	family Behrens	32 FPs
GC60190	Signal the frog books his Licence	family Behrens	28 FPs
GC5KD22	Geocacher By Night	family Behrens	27 FPs
GC1ABZK	Table Mountain - Cape Town	spuzva	25 FPs
GC51P0R	Muzzle loading Gun	family Behrens	23 FPs
GCVDHN	Sailors' Star	vespax	22 FPs

There can be little doubt that family Behrens is doing something special with their hides – they own 6 of the current top 10 caches in South Africa!

Most finds in the past year

GC Code	Cache Name	Municipality	Owner	Finds
GC62NFH	Birth of a gentle giant	Overberg	scubie999	231 finds
GCMYYZ	Table Top Trove	City of Cape Town	Richter Family	202 finds
GC31WXR	Table Mountain Travel Bug Hotel	City of Cape Town	CapeDoc	193 finds
GC37VF3	Tip of Africa	Overberg	Zephyr2	192 finds
GC6JCHV	V&A Waterfront: Bay Vista	City of Cape Town	SawaSawa	192 finds
GC2CG7X	Hiddingh Security TB Hotel	City of Cape Town	Mr Panda	174 finds
GCVDHN	Sailors' Star	City of Cape Town	vespax	143 finds
GC77E	Cape Agulhas	Overberg	Peter Scholtz	132 finds
GC61VN7	Vertical Liftoff	City of Cape Town	Naets	130 finds
GC4H10K	GOS: Whale Crier	Overberg	Suikerbossies	128 finds

For more interesting statistics about South African and African caches, visit the page on the Groundspeak Forums called Statistics - bend it anyway you like!

Dönerstag Souvenir 2017

Where in the world is Signal? In 2017, Groundspeak is celebrating geocaching around the world. You’re invited to join Signal the Frog® as he travels to different countries to geocache like a local. No plane ticket required! Signal’s first stop: Germany. On Thursday, April 13, players will gather to celebrate the 11th annual Dönerstag. Attend one of the Dönerstag events scheduled across South Africa to earn your souvenir.

CITO Weeks 2017

The 2017 Annual Cache In Trash Out Weeks are scheduled for April 22 - April 30 and September 23 - October 1. Watch our site for a list of CITO events as they get published. Isn't one near you yet? Consider hosting one then!

Film Festival 2017

Geocaching International Film Festival is returning for another year of epic geocaching moments captured on camera. Films need to be submitted to Geocaching HQ by August 1, 2017. Find out more.

Nelson Mandela Bay Annual Caching Weekend

The weekend of 24 to 26 February saw event GC6XE7Y, the 3rd annual NMB Caching weekend away, organised by PumTim and KitchenBoss. This year the event was held at the inniKloof camp site in the Gamtoos Valley.

Once again this event was well supported with teams arriving from Cape Town, the Garden Route and East London to complement a number of more local teams from NMB and its surrounds.

Approximately 40 new caches were placed in the area with a wide variety of cache types. As has become the norm at this event, it was possible to grab eight icons over the weekend.

Cachers started arriving early with iPajero, Strandlopers w&e and k j being some of the first to park their vans and put up their tents. Most of the rest arrived on Friday afternoon with some Cape Town teams arriving late after a full day’s caching en-route to inniKloof.

The main task for Saturday was to tackle the long walk to the inniKloof Waterfall cache (GC6BNN3). A good 7km (14km round trip) walk up a mountain, along the ridge and then down an almost vertical descent to a magnificent waterfall. Luckily the weather played along and we had a cool overcast day during a week that had seen temperatures in the upper 30’s.

On arrival we were faced with a D4.5 container hidden by plainoldgraham, but that was only second priority as the first priority was to swim in the cool water and admire the magnificent waterfall. The fit people found it as they left almost at the same time as the not so fit arrived at the waterfall. The group really got spread out. Farm owner John acted as a magnificent guide on the trail and made sure everyone got there and back safely. The walk is well worth your while with some magnificent scenery along the trail. The waterfall at the end is the cherry on the top.

While most of the group sweated their way to the waterfall some teams decided to rather cache locally. The Capetonians drove through to Port Elizabeth to grab as many caches as they could.

Both Friday and Saturday evening saw a huge fire being made in the communal fire pit and lots of caching stories were told over a few beers and glasses of wine. In fact, the few glasses of wine might have been the cause of the serenading of some of the chalets late on Saturday evening (or was it Sunday morning?).

Congratulations to the organisers. Another successful one. Looking forward to next year!

Article submitted by ChrisDen

We are always on the lookout for photos from events or cool caches, as well as any fun, interesting, unusual or exciting geocaching stories to share with the geocaching community. If you want to share yours, send it to us by emailing it to our webmasters.

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Looking Back at 2016
Looking Ahead to 2017
Até breve. Boa viagem Katarn1977.

Looking Back At 2016

As we approach another year, we felt it was important to highlight some of the achievements over 2016.

Firstly, we need to highlight the great work done by the Cape Town Organising Committee for Cape Town 2016, the 3rd Mega Event held in South Africa. Feedback from everyone who attended was very positive, and we think the entire team that put the event together needs a round of applause for their successful Mega.

GoSA also had several successes, the Facebook Page and Website are getting more visits and hits than ever before, and we are regularly being contacted through the GoSA website to be interviewed by the media, or to share geocaching experience with newbies or people interested in Geocaching. We even had some committee members on the radio this year.

Looking Ahead To 2017

We hope you all have a successful 2017, especially on the geocaching side. Now is a good time to reflect on your geocaching goals for 2017. Get that elusive 5/5 cache, find a cache a day, complete your matrix, attend a specific event, move more TB's, maintain your caches, or hit one of the power trails, these are some of the plans we are already hearing about.

There are already plenty of events organised for 2017, so make sure you do get to spend some social time with fellow geocachers during 2017.

We also need to start planning for the next Mega Event, which we aim to organise for 2018, keeping the trend of a Mega every second year going.

For those of you still away, travel safely, cache well, and have a wonderful 2017.

Até breve. Boa viagem Katarn1977.

Wayne Moore (alias Katarn1977) hails from Bakersfield, California. He arrived in Port Elizabeth (PE) on a student exchange program in January as a relatively new cacher with 282 caches under the belt, and didn’t know a soul in PE. Caching soon changed that.

Wayne attended the annual caching weekend away that is held near PE and was absorbed into the active PE caching group. More accurately, he just fit in and became one of us. In fact he became the motivating force behind a number of caching trips to difficult and lonely caches. His trademark “Let’s Do It” became synonymous with a caching adventure.

After being in “a dark place” about three years ago and managing to turn his life around Wayne’s story was motivating to many people that he came into contact with.

Wayne did not only have an impact on the caching community. He acted as a volunteer in a project where young children in the Walmer location are mentored. He became an active member of the AA groups in Port Elizabeth and is involved in a fund raising effort for an orphanage in Lesotho.

Wayne attended the Mega held in Cape Town and was soon part of a very active caching group from Pretoria. He did in excess of 120 caches over the Mega weekend. Needless to say the Pretoria cachers invited Wayne to visit and took him on an exhausting caching trip in Pretoria.

While in Southern Africa Wayne found 1 276 caches. A remarkable achievement. In the process he lost about 45 kg and increased his fitness levels enormously. His first find in SA was on 28 of January, and his last attempt at a cache, unfortunately a DNF, nearly had him miss his connecting flight out of Durban on his way back to the USA. But that’s just Wayne – “doing it!” to the last minute.

The more memorable trips that Wayne was involved in was a climb to the top of Kompasberg (GC3T6TP), the chase for the FTF on Secret Chamber (GC6PG3Z) on the Harkerville trail and then the epic hike to get the FTF on 9 Peaks – Kwa Duma (GC4RGYK), a cache that was placed in November 2013. While on that trip he also did the FTF on Pulane View (GC4W5FJ) where he met up with the CO that runs an orphanage he is now raising funds for. It is these exploits that have earned him the nickname “Captain America”.

To gauge the character of Katarn1977 one should read his logs on Masked Weaver (GC552QH), Red Haartebeest (GC6Q27Y - a cache placed in his honour in the NMU reserve) and Table Mountain TB Hotel (GC31WXR). To see what an impact he had on the caching community one should read the logs of his fellow cachers who attended his farewell event, Wayne’s World (GC6W3V9).

Awesome Wayne. You have made an impact on the lives of many. We will see you again. Either here or in Bakersfield. You arrived knowing no-one, and left a family.
ZA-US. Captain America - Uniting two worlds.

Article submitted by ChrisDen

Katarn1977, King James VII and roadrunred on the way to KwaDuma

L to R Katarn1977, PipiBibi and Shefetswe. Spesbona at the back in the Secret Chamber

L to R Katarn1977, roadrunred, ChrisDen and plainoldgraham after conquering Kompasberg (in the background)

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YES, it is a Mega event!
Who are family Behrens?
Hidden Creature Souvenirs
Cache of the Month - Golden Oldie

YES, it is a Mega Event!

The 2018 Jolly Jozi Jol, GC7DAJM is now officially a MEGA event! The event takes place on 29 September and must definitely not be missed! Stay tuned for updates and news from the organising committee as we count down the days to the event - less than 90 days to go!

Who are family Behrens?

This month we have a special feature from the caching team, family Behrens! For those of you who don’t know about their amazing geocaches, they reside in Cape Town and have acquired quite a reputation for their hides. To date they have acquired over 1 500 favourite points!

First off some Geocaching history:
family Behrens (Jamie, Candice, Nate and Adam) started geocaching on 21 October 2012 with our first find being African Tides. This was after 3 DNFs and nearly giving up on this silly idea that my wife had come up with, but we kept on and after the first find we were hooked. Just 7 days later we placed our first geocache hide – Silvermine River Cache which is still active today.

At some point the FTF bug got us and we managed to grab a few over the years. The coin and TB bug also got us and we have over the years got some lovely coins that have some really good memory’s attached to them.

We have placed 9 cache types including CITO events, regular events and a virtual. We are not big fans of Earthcaches but do like them and have persevered to become Platinum EarthCache Masters.
In January 2015 we were awarded the Geocachers of the Month by Geocaching HQ.
On 18 July 2015 we completed our DT Matrix with lots of help from our caching friends as without them we would never had got to do this.
On 29 February 2016 we completed our 366 calendar.
On September 28, 2016 we were awarded Geocache of the Week by Geocaching HQ for our cache Intersect 2.0.
On the 1st of October 2016 we attended our first Mega Cape Town 2016 and we hit the milestone of 1000 favourite Points received on Owned Caches on the 4th of October 2016.
In 2018 the Cubs (Scouts) implemented a geocaching achievement badge and Adam was one of the first to get this badge. I have since been working with First Fish Hoek cubs, teaching them about geocaching and taking them out geocaching (with lots of help from Adam).

I often get asked the following 3 questions regarding Geocaching:
What made you decide / want to make creative and unique geocaches?
We were very lucky to start caching in the Deep South (Fish Hoek) and this area has some lovely caches and some very interesting ones.

Some of our early finds were caches placed by Paddawan. You may know him for his Shipwreck series, but he has also placed a number of other well-hidden and creative caches.

One of our early finds was one of his caches in Simonstown (part of the Shipwreck series). This cache was a micro hidden behind a sign board. But what amazed me was that Paddawan had taken the time to come and measure up and cut some square tubing to fit in behind the sign board to hide the cache in. Unfortunately the cache was archived, so I am not giving anything away.

Straight away I liked this type of hide and knew I wanted to find more like this. A few finds later we found another creative hide from Paddawan, we were hooked. I knew that I wanted to place hides that I would want to find and by now had found some ‘not so good’ hides and did not want to do that.

So, this got me going with the creative hides.

Where do you get your ideas?
This is a very hard question to answer, the short answer is everywhere.

What I do is walk around the shops, mountain or even at work looking at everything thinking could that be or be used in a geocache. Then when I do see something that looks interesting I start thinking about how I can use it. I also use the internet to get some ideas and then using what I have found and seen, I start my planning. Often my ideas change as I am making the cache. Something that started as the ‘hide’ may end up been part of a bigger hide. Sometimes I take two ideas and make them in to one big hide. The key is to always be looking and asking the question to yourself – can that be a geocache?

I also decided to try keep making different hides, this way it keeps me thinking and that way challenging myself to find something new. I also like to try keep doing it better if I can. So often I will go back to a hide and remake it a bit better or just improve it in some way. I also find that the listing is some thing to be creative with. For this I often look to movies and series for some ideas.

How do you get your permission to place your geocaches and find the location?
After spending weeks, sometimes months making a geocache it is nice to know that it is going to be in a good spot. We do work a bit backwards as most people find a cache location and then make the cache. We make the cache and then find the location.

How we go about this is we drive around looking at the potential places (we often have places in mind). The cache guides us most often. Once we have found a location we then work on the permission. We have sometimes got permission for a location and decided that the cache is not the right fit and then made a new cache for the approved location. Some places are easy as you can find someone on site and ask to talk to the owner / management. I find that after a 5 min chat about geocaching and what you want to do most people are happy to help. In other cases you need to go home and do some research about the place you want to use and perhaps get a phone number or email address. In every case I get the permission in writing. This often takes a few weeks but it is all worth it in the end.

Article submitted by family Behrens

Hidden Creature Souvenirs

Last week Geocaching HQ’s next challenge started. Sightings of magical creatures and otherworldly beings have been reported. Have you seen any of these creatures yet? Find out more…

Cache of the Month

This month's theme was Best Golden Oldie and we received some excellent nominations.

The opinion of the committee was mixed but after much deliberation it was decided that South Africa’s oldest geocache is July's COTM. GC185, Sentinel View, placed on 18 January 2001, sits in Silvermine Nature Reserve and commands amazing views of Hout Bay. On top of this, it is a large container that has stood the test of time and should definitely be on every cacher’s bucket list!

For the next several months the COTM will not have a specific theme. Caches that have been nominated so far this year (from January to April) will be eligible again. Please send your nominations to .

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Big Blue Switch Souvenir
Three Million Geocaches
Film Festival 2017
Border Camping Weekend

Big Blue Switch Souvenir

Geocaching has evolved, and so have geocachers. On May 2nd, Groundspeak is celebrating the 17th anniversary of the birth of geocaching with a Big Blue Switch souvenir! Find any geocache or attend any event on Tuesday, May 2, 2017 and you’ll earn a new digital souvenir for your geocaching profile!

What is “Big Blue Switch” day?
On May 2, 2000, just past midnight, the U.S government discontinued its use of Selective Availability in order to make GPS more responsive to civil and commercial users worldwide. Twenty-four satellites around the globe processed their new orders, and instantly the accuracy of GPS technology improved tenfold. Tens of thousands of GPS receivers around the world had an instant upgrade. Prior to this date, only the military had the ability to receive accurate GPS readings. Now, the world and all its wonderful people could pinpoint their precise location. For reasons unknown, this is often referred to as the flipping of the “Big Blue Switch”.

The very next day, a computer consultant named Dave Ulmer hid a black bucket in the woods near Portland, Oregon. Along with a logbook and pencil, he left various prize items including videos, books, software, and a slingshot, then posted the coordinates online.

Three days later, the container was located by Mike Teague. Now, seventeen years later, geocaching has become a global phenomenon to get off the couch and get outside.

The game has evolved, and so have geocachers: In the past 17 years, geocachers have reached many milestones including 3 million active geocaches, 7 million active geocachers, and over 22 million awarded favorite points. The Big Blue Switch souvenir is one more way to celebrate the evolution of geocaching!

Three Million!

Geocaching reached a major milestone during April 2017. Three million active geocaches. A big thank you to all the cache owners that helped this be achieved.
Find out more.

Film Festival 2017

Geocaching International Film Festival is returning for another year of epic geocaching moments captured on camera. Films need to be submitted to Geocaching HQ by August 1, 2017.
Find out more.

Border Camping Weekend

The Camping Weekend 2017 Areena Riverside Resort (GC6ZWE2) event was held from the 24th to the 26th March and is the third camping weekend that has been held in the East London area, with the first being way back in February 2009, Camp & Cache by iNokia (GC1KVK9).

The weather for the weekend did not look too promising as we woke up to rain on Friday morning but fortunately by mid morning it had stopped and it held off for the weekend. Kingrobert from Port Elizabeth had arrived on Wednesday, then slowly the rest of those attending arrived. In the meantime two potjiekos pots, one a lamb and bean pot and the other one a chicken and mushroom were being prepared on Friday for those attending the camping weekend. Although there was a little rain in the evening this did not dampen the spirits as everyone huddled under the awning and gazebo to share the potjiekos. The one pot was scraped clean and precious little left in the other so it appeared that it was enjoyed by all. After much geocaching talk and socializing every one retired for the night to get some rest for the day that lay ahead.

On Saturday morning the two teams from Port Elizabeth, Kingrobert and NaviMate, one cacher from Pretoria mart514 and nine local teams got together to solve the 20 Geo-Art caches that had just been published. Firstly we must say a big thank you to Pte Curb for reviewing and publishing the caches as requested. As geocachers we are deeply indebted to our South African reviewers who devote so much of their time to ensuring that we have the pleasure of enjoying geocaching. The Geo-Art series was based on two of East London’s historic claims “The world’s only surviving Dodo Egg and the discovery of the prehistoric Coelacanth”. Once the puzzles were solved the teams departed to find these geocaches culminating in finding the Dodo Egg and the Prehistoric Coelacanth final bonus caches. From the logs it can be seen that much fun and learning was experienced by the geocachers. Quotes from two logs “Lots of time and effort went into this Geo-Art and we are so lucky to have such great historical finds in our back yard” and ”Plenty of research and preparation for this very informative and historical significant series and the first Geo-Art in East London.

On Saturday evening a communal braai was organized and while we waited for the coals to be ready we were treated to an amazing fire-dance display by teams Monti’s Adventure and Jou Doring. Monti’s Adventure also produced and handed out some great wooden geocoins/tags commemorating the weekend. Thanks too to NaviMate who sponsored bottles of water for Saturday’s geocaching and pineapples to enjoy with our braai.

Sunday morning saw another 15 caches published, 10 in the Insect Series and 5 other, so it was a quick pack-up to get on their way to find these caches.

In conclusion I think this local WhatsApp post sums up the weekend that was had by all “It was such a fun weekend with cool caches. Thank you team iPajero for organizing, catering, hiding and making this weekend all in all FANTASTIC”.

Article submitted by iPajero

All About The Numbers

Remember you can get lots of interesting statistics about South African and African caches from the page on the Groundspeak Forums called Statistics - bend it anyway you like!

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Caching Creed Contemplations
Virtual Rewards
CITO Week 2017
Tripod the GeoDog

Geocachers' Creed

Contemplating the Geocachers' Creed, ethics and behaviour

A difficult topic of discussion is how one should behave when out geocaching. In a previous GoSA newsletter, (April 2016) we had highlighted the Geocachers' Creed and pointed towards our glossary.

SAFE ∙ LEGAL ∙ ETHICAL
When placing or seeking geocaches, I will:

Not endanger myself or others
Observe all laws & rules of the area
Respect property rights and seek permission where appropriate
Avoid causing disruptions or public alarm
Minimize my and others' impact on the environment
Be considerate of others
Protect the integrity of the game pieces

I have noticed that there are geocachers who drive very hard towards some statistical measures (the simplest being to find large numbers of geocaches in a short time period) and I have given some focus on certain statistical targets in my geocaching adventures too. I tend to give little attention to geocaches that are easy to find (except when I performed a streak of finding a geocache a day for 200 consecutive days) and I really enjoy the success of finding hard caches.

After some discussions in the South African Community and because the game has matured over the last number of years, I felt that we could unofficially extend the examples given by the online resource to include the following:

1. Not endanger myself or others

Be aware of criminal elements, and avoid areas where your instincts tell you that it is unsafe.

4. Avoid causing disruptions or public alarm

When engaging with officials representing the land owners, show respect. There are incidents in the past which have been racist of nature or dismissal of authority, disrupting the peaceful nature of the rest of the geocaching community causing a tarnishing of the game in South Africa.

6. Be considerate of others

Do not claim a “First to Find” unless you did all the necessary work to find the geocache after it was hidden, and be sure that you were really first. Being there first is a challenge that people enjoy, so be honest about it.
Because of the sensitivity of “First to Find” it is also reasonable for a geocacher to log a short online found log or written note to be transparent to others that they have been to the cache and found it.

7. Protect the integrity of the game pieces

As the Cache Owner, be vigilant regarding any changes to the difficulty of the geocache. The listed values for the difficulty and terrain should reflect the reality of the geocache – and preferably should not change. For example, changing the puzzle in a mystery cache changes the experience that subsequent geocachers would have when trying to solve the puzzle.
Log the geocache and trackable with the correct date.
Do not share answers to puzzle caches. Some geocachers don’t want any help, and some may ask for small hints. Very few will want to find a cache without being able to follow the listed instructions in the description.
If one can not find the cache, that does not mean that it is missing. Rather do not just replace the cache without the owner’s permission.

Article submitted by Fier, the chairman of GoSA

Virtual Rewards

We ended August with the exciting news that Geocaching HQ announced the release of Virtual Rewards, a project to reward some of geocaching’s great contributors, while also introducing a limited number of new Virtual Caches for the enjoyment of the entire geocaching community. Read all about the details here.

Given that we haven't got many of the little smiley ghost icons that represent virtual caches in South Africa at the moment, this was very exciting news. We are waiting in great anticipation to see who earned a reward and where they will use them. There are already (at time of going to publication) 3 new virtual geocaches in South Africa, and hopefully many more on the way. Catch the full list here...

CITO Events

Cache In Trash Out^® is an ongoing environmental initiative supported by the worldwide geocaching community. The second CITO week of 2017 is just around the corner from September 23 - October 1. Keep an eye on our website to find a nearby event to join, or organise your own local CITO.

Weekend Events

Several big weekend camping events are coming up soon too:

29 September - Bush Camp Weekend @ RoChaDie
30 September - At The Coast (Weekend Event)
7 October - Wilderness Camping Weekend

Tripod the GeoDog

Tripod is a Miniature Japanese Fox terrier. Tripod as a tiny puppy of only a few days old was brought to our local vet to be euthanized after his mother chewed off most of his left lower hind leg. Instead of putting it down the vet decided to try for an amputation, not knowing if it would be successful on a tiny and young puppy as Tripod.

The day after the operation dolosC was at the vet picking up one of our own dogs. Hearing the vet talking about the tiny little puppy, dolosC wanted to know more and when she saw the tiny creature, there and then adopted the tiny puppy and brought it home. At home the puppy promptly became TRIPOD.

For the first week or so Tripod had to be fed both food and water from a syringe every two hours (day and night) and then every four hours etc. That meant that Tripod also had to go to work with dolos during the day and “pajama drills” at night. In the beginning it was touch and go to keep him alive, but the little guy showed great fighting spirit and every day he grew stronger and his little eyes showed a keenness to live.

Tripod grew up with his two Jack Russell friends Ruby and Buks which are only about eight months older than him. They play very rough with him and he has to stand his ground, which he does with a sharp little growl. Tripod is a little more careful around Jubal our older Jack Russell and very “catfoot” around Miloh our three legged (another tri-paw) cat.

Tripod functions as any normal dog would and he does not know that he is different. He plays fetch with his ball and runs very fast and can even keep up with Buks! He can swim the doggie paddle and has been knocked rolling by the waves at Kleinzee.

Tripod became a caching dog with his own Travel Tag (TB TRIPOD) and has travelled to Kimberley, Jan Kempdorp, Kleinzee, Port Nolloth, Ottosdal and Rustenburg and has cached with dolos all along the way. Tripod has become a regular at geocaching events and even shares the rooftop tent with dolos at sleepovers. Tripod has attended the Tswaing Crater Sleepover event and trotted most of the way during the hike. When Tripod gets tired dolosC puts him in her rucksack. His favorite spot remains on dolosC’s lap where he can give soft kisses to dolos.

Tripod also knows when it is time to jump in the car for a ride when we call him by his nicknames “Tri-Tri” or “Tritjie”, but he does not like his walking harness and prefers to be free to run around unobstructed. Tripod is definitely the most spoiled member of the dolos household and reminds dolos that one can overcome most anything with a bit of love, trust and will to succeed.

Article submitted by dolos

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Até breve. Boa viagem Katarn1977.

Wayne Moore (alias Katarn1977) hails from Bakersfield, California. He arrived in Port Elizabeth (PE) on a student exchange program in January as a relatively new cacher with 282 caches under the belt, and didn’t know a soul in PE. Caching soon changed that.

Wayne attended the annual caching weekend away that is held near PE and was absorbed into the active PE caching group. More accurately, he just fit in and became one of us. In fact he became the motivating force behind a number of caching trips to difficult and lonely caches. His trademark “Let’s Do It” became synonymous with a caching adventure.

After being in “a dark place” about three years ago and managing to turn his life around Wayne’s story was motivating to many people that he came into contact with.

Wayne did not only have an impact on the caching community. He acted as a volunteer in a project where young children in the Walmer location are mentored. He became an active member of the AA groups in Port Elizabeth and is involved in a fund raising effort for an orphanage in Lesotho.

Wayne attended the Mega held in Cape Town and was soon part of a very active caching group from Pretoria. He did in excess of 120 caches over the Mega weekend. Needless to say the Pretoria cachers invited Wayne to visit and took him on an exhausting caching trip in Pretoria.

While in Southern Africa Wayne found 1 276 caches. A remarkable achievement. In the process he lost about 45 kg and increased his fitness levels enormously. His first find in SA was on 28 of January, and his last attempt at a cache, unfortunately a DNF, nearly had him miss his connecting flight out of Durban on his way back to the USA. But that’s just Wayne – “doing it!” to the last minute.

The more memorable trips that Wayne was involved in was a climb to the top of Kompasberg (GC3T6TP), the chase for the FTF on Secret Chamber (GC6PG3Z) on the Harkerville trail and then the epic hike to get the FTF on 9 Peaks – Kwa Duma (GC4RGYK), a cache that was placed in November 2013. While on that trip he also did the FTF on Pulane View (GC4W5FJ) where he met up with the CO that runs an orphanage he is now raising funds for. It is these exploits that have earned him the nickname “Captain America”.

To gauge the character of Katarn1977 one should read his logs on Masked Weaver (GC552QH), Red Haartebeest (GC6Q27Y - a cache placed in his honour in the NMU reserve) and Table Mountain TB Hotel (GC31WXR). To see what an impact he had on the caching community one should read the logs of his fellow cachers who attended his farewell event, Wayne’s World (GC6W3V9).

Awesome Wayne. You have made an impact on the lives of many. We will see you again. Either here or in Bakersfield. You arrived knowing no-one, and left a family.
ZA-US. Captain America - Uniting two worlds.

Article submitted by ChrisDen

Katarn1977, King James VII and roadrunred on the way to KwaDuma

L to R Katarn1977, PipiBibi and Shefetswe. Spesbona at the back in the Secret Chamber

L to R Katarn1977, roadrunred, ChrisDen and plainoldgraham after conquering Kompasberg (in the background)

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Border Camping Weekend

The Camping Weekend 2017 Areena Riverside Resort (GC6ZWE2) event was held from the 24th to the 26th March and is the third camping weekend that has been held in the East London area, with the first being way back in February 2009, Camp & Cache by iNokia (GC1KVK9).

The weather for the weekend did not look too promising as we woke up to rain on Friday morning but fortunately by mid morning it had stopped and it held off for the weekend. Kingrobert from Port Elizabeth had arrived on Wednesday, then slowly the rest of those attending arrived. In the meantime two potjiekos pots, one a lamb and bean pot and the other one a chicken and mushroom were being prepared on Friday for those attending the camping weekend. Although there was a little rain in the evening this did not dampen the spirits as everyone huddled under the awning and gazebo to share the potjiekos. The one pot was scraped clean and precious little left in the other so it appeared that it was enjoyed by all. After much geocaching talk and socializing every one retired for the night to get some rest for the day that lay ahead.

On Saturday morning the two teams from Port Elizabeth, Kingrobert and NaviMate, one cacher from Pretoria mart514 and nine local teams got together to solve the 20 Geo-Art caches that had just been published. Firstly we must say a big thank you to Pte Curb for reviewing and publishing the caches as requested. As geocachers we are deeply indebted to our South African reviewers who devote so much of their time to ensuring that we have the pleasure of enjoying geocaching. The Geo-Art series was based on two of East London’s historic claims “The world’s only surviving Dodo Egg and the discovery of the prehistoric Coelacanth”. Once the puzzles were solved the teams departed to find these geocaches culminating in finding the Dodo Egg and the Prehistoric Coelacanth final bonus caches. From the logs it can be seen that much fun and learning was experienced by the geocachers. Quotes from two logs “Lots of time and effort went into this Geo-Art and we are so lucky to have such great historical finds in our back yard” and ”Plenty of research and preparation for this very informative and historical significant series and the first Geo-Art in East London.

On Saturday evening a communal braai was organized and while we waited for the coals to be ready we were treated to an amazing fire-dance display by teams Monti’s Adventure and Jou Doring. Monti’s Adventure also produced and handed out some great wooden geocoins/tags commemorating the weekend. Thanks too to NaviMate who sponsored bottles of water for Saturday’s geocaching and pineapples to enjoy with our braai.

Sunday morning saw another 15 caches published, 10 in the Insect Series and 5 other, so it was a quick pack-up to get on their way to find these caches.

In conclusion I think this local WhatsApp post sums up the weekend that was had by all “It was such a fun weekend with cool caches. Thank you team iPajero for organizing, catering, hiding and making this weekend all in all FANTASTIC”.

Article submitted by iPajero

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GoSA Grapevine August 2017 - International Geocaching Day

International Geocaching Day
Lost Treasure of Mary Hyde
Weekend Events
2017 Nelson Mandela Bay Geocaching Awards

International Geocaching Day

International Geocaching Day 2017 is just a few weeks away on 19 August, and who really needs an excuse to organise another geocaching event? Find a nearby event by going here...

Lost Treasure of Mary Hyde

Spanning the globe and the seven seas, last month we introduced you to the infamous Captain Mary Hyde. Her ship, The Golden Cache, was the fiercest, and the bearded buccaneers and sea legged sailors reported to her. Legend has it that she ruled the high seas for many years, and found no shortage of riches throughout her reign.

Continue the swashbuckling geocaching adventure through daring feats and stormy seas. Make yer way through a four week souvenir journey to find the lost treasure of Mary Hyde. Up to six digital souvenir moments are up for grabs, and on Geocaching.com is something new to be had…find out more here.

Weekend Events

The usual big weekend camping events are coming up:

29 September - Bush Camp Weekend @ RoChaDie
30 September - At The Coast (Weekend Event)
7 October - Wilderness Camping Weekend

2017 Nelson Mandela Bay Geocaching and PEG Awards (GC75BR4)

The eagerly anticipated Geocaching Awards Event on the 10th June 2017 was preceded by a CITO at the venue in a near gale-force wind. The Geocaching Awards were followed by the PEG Caching Challenge prize-giving. Geocachers minds were, to a large extent, on the fires along the Garden Route and outside of Port Elizabeth with news filtering through of the destruction being caused to homes & schools but with the normal exuberance and enthusiasm many black bags were filled before retreating from the wind to participate in the awards event in the 1st Walmer Scout Hal, in Walmer, Port Elizabeth.

FireflyAfrica had once again done a sterling job arranging the categories, the voting and the awards. Anticipation was high as the categories were presented and the well-deserved winners announced.
Award Categories included:

Traditional Cache of the Year was a runaway victory for GC69XG7 - Puzzle Containers 6 - Nursery Rhymes by jtomcat16. This being the most popular type of cache placed it is no wonder there were almost 20 nominations.
Mystery Cache of the Year was another victory for jtomcat16 and GC6KC9X – Puzzleception. 2016 seemed to be the year of the Puzzle and with 9 nominated caches it seems that jtomcat16 has a bit of a cult-following.
Multi-Cache of the Year had 11 local caches nominated but in the end GC6KE7A – SMAUG by GeorgeC12 was the eventual winner. This D5/T5 cache was a popular choice amongst voters and should be a MUST DO on any geocachers list. It has also been awarded 100% Favourites/Premium Logs. An achievement unequalled by some of the best caches around.
Letterbox Cache of the Year was awarded to the ever-popular Katarn1977 for one of his farewell caches GC6TB0C - Donald Trump. Set up at the foot of the Lady Slipper mountain outside of PE, this cache deserves a visit.
Earth Cache of the Year only had 4 nominees and interestingly showed that local Geocachers are not big on this type of cache but the closely contested award went to GC6JXPW – Sundays River : Source to Sea by ChrisDen.
Wherigo Cache of the Year had 3 nominations and was won by GC6BD5X - Forensic Science: Case #GC6BD5X by Erenei (For Authorized Personnel Only) the local Whereigo expert. PE has some fantastic Wherigo caches and geocachers who place these always seem to get a great response from those who get the smiley.
Series of the Year was awarded to jtomcat16 for his Puzzle Container Series. The category attracted 7 nominations and shows that local cachers enjoy publishing series.
Event of the Year was awarded to GC65GXB - On the River Bank (Weekend event) by PumTim with plenty of input from KitchenBoss and a few other cachers. This popular annual event is growing from strength to strength and geocachers attend from far and wide.
Extreme Cache of the Year went to GC6BNN3 - inniKloof waterfall by plainoldgraham. This D4.5 T5 cache was a deserved winner attracting 10 Favourite Points (56% Favourites/Premium Logs in 2016. A great day out for any geocaching group. The extreme nature of this cache is not only where it is placed and the journey to get to it but also the fact that access to it is by appointment only.
Most Challenging Cache of the Year went to the well-deserved GC6KE7A – SMAUG by GeorgeC12. (See Multi-Cache of the Year above for more on this cache.)
The award for All Time Favourite Cache of the Year was a close fought affair with FireflyAfrica’s GC558ZR - PE Beachfront TB Hotel pipping the other contenders. This cache has also been awarded 43 Favourite Points at the time of going to print.
Best Log of the Year was awarded to Katarn1977 for his penning of the epic tale experienced in the pursuit of GC4PWP3 – Pinocchio’s Nose.
Best Log Photo is best seen than described. This award, the third for GeorgeC12’s GC6KE7A – SMAUG, saw plainoldgraham (aka, for this cache as, IronMan), Shefetswe (aka the guy with the broken ankle) & Katarn1977 (aka as Captain America for this cache) dressed in swimwear, in the middle of winter, after a prolonged week of rain, in a quest to conquer Smaug, the fire drake of the Third Age. Judge for yourself...

Photo posted by Katarn1977 “What did you do today” on GC6KE7A – SMAUG by GeorgeC12
Young Cacher of the Year is a close fought category every year and the 2016 Young Cacher was MeercatC12 for his continuous contribution to the local Geocaching community.
Newbie of the Year was a popular & runaway victory for Bull-Terrier, who racked up 200 caches to the end of December 2016 after only starting in September of 2016.

The Achievement Award, along with the Geocacher of the Year Award are always the most anticipated and when perusing the voting results it seems that the Geocaching Community were in agreement with who should be the recipients.

A popular choice for The Achievement Award was Katarn1977 for the incredible impact he had on the PE Geocaching community for the short period of time that he was resident in the city. Many Geocachers, who were fortunate enough to meet this fun-loving resident of Bakersfield, California, USA had, not only their Geocaching experience enhanced, but their lives changed by the larger-than-life “Let’s Do It” persona that slotted into the community as if he had lived here all his life.
Geocacher of the Year Award, with 9 nominations, was fittingly awarded to the husband and wife team of ChrisDen, who, not only, found well over 1800 caches but also surpassed the 5000 mark in 2016. They have also placed more than 170 caches, still in play and have always made themselves available to aid and advise the Geocachers in the area.

With the Geocaching Awards out of the way it was time to eat and hungry Geocachers tucked into Shefetwes delicious Boere Rolls with homemade “sous”. BYO drinks accompanied the food and everyone settled down to the PEG Awards.

This challenge was put together by plainoldgraham with input from Katarn1977, who was now back in Bakersfield, CA 9 hours behind CAT. It was a special moment when a skype link was set up for him to actually present the awards to the eventual winners. A special moment to, once again, see the man who had made a huge impact on the local Geocaching community and many took the opportunity to have a few words with him.

The challenge consisted of 51 caches placed by 13 local Geocachers. The methodology behind the challenge can be read on any one of the PEG Challenge cache pages. (See GC6Y3F2).

There were 3 Awards and the winners walked away with goodie Bags kindly put together by Plainoldgraham.

Most FTF's went to Navimate who cached until 4am in the morning after the night the caches were published. Navimate also found all the caches within 11 days and won because he had one more FTF than Chrisden. It was THAT close.
Chrisden came second, having also found all the caches (but could not win because there were more points for an FTF).
Wikklegat came third as they also found all the caches, but had less FTF’s.
Pipibibi got the prize for the “least” found cache GC6Y076 PEG - Little orange boy.
Spesbona received a prize for the "last" found cache GC6XXJP PEG - Go Fish in the Night.

CONGRATULATIONS to all the WINNERS and here’s hoping the Awards will encourage all the PE Cachers to go out there with new inspiration to place some outstanding Geocaches to enhance this already fantastic activity.

REMEMBER – IT’S JUST A GAME
Article submitted by Shefetswe

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Geocaching Badges, Bunny Chows and more…

From the Desk of the Chairman

Who would have thought we’d be halfway through the year already? Having been smacked with lockdown level four, I’m hoping everybody is keeping safe and healthy. Earlier in June, I had the pleasure of joining the Pretoria community at an event which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I had hoped to explore a bit of the Northern Cape later this month, but I believe it’s better to stay away from travel for the time being. From the perspective of the GoSA committee, we, like many of you, are gutted at the compelled cancellation of the Bay Cache Bash. Working closely with the organising committee, we had set ourselves a date of 30 June to reach the magical 300 mark to obtain mega status. Many of you would even have received personal messages alerting you to the event as well as other aspects of GoSA.

When 2021 started, we were feeling hopeful that COVID19 would be a thing of the past before the event. With the rise in infections, increased level of lockdown and the like, it was decided that it would be better to avoid complications and risk of infections with all indications showing that COVID19 will be a problem in South Africa for some time still.

I must thank and commend Jonker Fourie (FireflyAfrica) for his and his team’s tireless work and effort getting the balls rolling only for them to be ditched before the event. It’s most appreciated that we have passionate people in our community willing to dedicate their time for the greater good.

I’m also grateful to the contributions being made to the newsletter. We started the year trying to bring the community together and reading stories, seeing pictures, and even watching the occasional video makes me realise we’re on the right foot.

Be safe while caching out there and I look forward to seeing all your #GeocachingSouthAfrica photos!

Geocaching: Cubs and Scouts Badges

Did you know that both Cubs and Scouts in South Africa can earn badges for geocaching? We have many members of the geocaching community that are also involved in cubs and/or scouts, some of whom were instrumental in getting these badges approved by Scouts SA.

We also have a few geocaching kids in the community who have, proudly, earned these badges and in their own small way have contributed to the growth of the caching community. Well done to the next generation of cachers for helping to grow the community!

If you’d like to read up on any of the information relating to these badges please visit Cubs Geocaching Badge; Geocaching Scout Craft Badge; Geocaching Scout Interest Badge

We would like to put a call out to all our geocaching members of the cubs and scouting community - please share your stories with us of how you have earned your badges or how members of your troop have earned their badges. We would love to feature some of these stories in our next newsletter.

Drop us a mail on .

Community Contribution

Bunny Chow Fridays

By waydom

There is nothing as quintessentially KZN-caching related as the BCF or Bunny Chow Friday Event Cache. There are few things that beat a tasty quarter mutton bunny, a cold beverage, and some geo-chatter to see in the weekend.

Did you know: The first official BCF event was held on the 11^th October 2013 and was hosted by the official “father of the BCF”, Peter (TechnoNut) Tiedt. (GC4NY9R) The event was held in the Britannia Hotel and the narrative for that cache has become the event description for most of the approximately seventy BCFs held to date:

The History of Bunny Chow
The bunny chow was created in Durban, home to a large community of people of Indian origin. The precise origins of the food are disputed, although its creation has been dated to the 1940s. It was also sold in Gwelo, Rhodesia, during WWII and is still sold in the nearby town of Kadoma, formerly known as Gatooma.

One story which provides an etymology for bunny chow has it that a restaurant run by people known as Banias (an Indian caste) first created the scooped-out bread and curry dish at a restaurant-cum-cafe called Kapitan's on the corner of Victoria and Albert streets in Durban. The food was a means to serve take-aways to excluded people. During the apartheid regime, Indians were not allowed in certain shops and cafes and so the shop owners found a way of serving the people through back windows, etc. This was an easy and effective way to serve the workers. The traditional Indian meal was roti and beans, however rotis tended to fall apart as a take-away item. So, they cut out the centre portion of the bread and filled it with curry and capped the filling with the portion that was cut out.

Another story of the bunny chow's origin is that, as in India, merchants who traditionally sold their wares under the 'bania' tree (also known as the banyan, or Ficus bengalensis) were called 'bania'. The use of this name is known in India going back to antiquity.

Stories of the origin of bunny chow date as far back as the migrant Indian workers arrival in South Africa. One account suggests that Indian migrant workers from India who were brought to South Africa to work the sugar cane plantations of Kwazulu-Natal (Port Natal) required a way of carrying their lunches to the field; a hollowed-out loaf of bread was a convenient way to transport their vegetarian curries. Meat based fillings came later. The use of a loaf of bread can also be ascribed to the lack of the traditional roti bread, in the absence of which a loaf of bread would be acceptable as an accompaniment to curry.

I recall my first bunny chow event. it was held at the “Look Out bar” in Glen Ashley – not specifically a bunny chow venue but certainly close enough for me to be able to make it there and back to the office in a reasonable time. It was back in 2014 and I had told Dom that we couldn’t possibly go to the event before finding at least 100 caches as we didn’t want the “veterans” to think that we were newbies!

I still recall sitting next to Beetles and Bentleys with my notebook out, making notes of peoples handles and corresponding names because a number of people exclusively made use of handles – super confusing for the newbie in awe of all these “big name” cachers with thousands of finds to their names.

My fears of being mocked or laughed at for our relatively low find total were soon allayed as we were welcomed into the midst of a number of likeminded, friendly strangers who shared a passion for this bizarre hobby which had taken hold of my free time (and some of my not-so-free time).

Pic. Post Lock-down Bunny in the Park (held 12 June 2021)

I soon learned that the only reason that one might get a bit of good old-fashioned “chirping” is if you decide to tackle your bunny with a knife and fork!

If you are in KZN and a weekend is nearby, keep an eye out for a possible “BCF” (or “BCFOS” – Bunny Chow Friday on a Saturday) near you!

Community Contribution

Geocaching Adventures

By Adventure_T

Pause for a moment, think about when was the last time you experienced the thrill of an adventure? When last did your heartbeat escalate in anticipation of something new? When were you drawn into a challenge that took you out of your comfort zone, and made you forget about everything else?

That is the power of a geocaching adventure! Anticipation, struggle, success, unforgettable memories.

So, what is a geocaching adventure and what makes them unforgettable?

“Adventure” is defined in the dictionary as “an unusual and exciting or daring experience.”

A geocaching adventure is generally planned beforehand, with excitement building as the anticipation grows for the big day. There is also sometimes a tinge of danger, and often, things don’t go according to plan…

Whether you are planning to summit a mountain, wander through a forest, explore a cave, discover a hidden spot near to you, or whatever takes you outside of your comfort zone - that’s where the adventure happens. But let’s face it, not all geocaching adventures have to be dangerous, where you fear for your life. Adventure is more about attitude. It’s about having the courage to try something new, or go somewhere you haven’t gone before, or do something in a way that you haven’t done before. It’s about you, stepping out of your comfort zone and choosing to walk a different path. Adventure requires some bravery.

The purpose of this bimonthly article is:

To inspire you to try new things.
To give you a sense of achievement and create memories.
To prove that anyone can have a geocaching adventure.
To show, through stories, that having geocaching adventures adds colour to your life.
And to demonstrate how you can create the types of adventures that suit you.

Adventure is taking each experience, whether you know the ending or not, and tackling it head-on. It’s about looking at the world from a different perspective. It’s choosing to see the beauty in the mundane and finding ways to do it differently.

Some of my favourite geocaching adventures include climbing Devil’s Peak in what became a misty day, when I could just see the rock hiding the cache, and then a misty drop off into nothing.

Also a time when I was hanging on the end of a rope, while trying to read coordinates on the sheer rock at my feet; and finally, finding the oldest active cache in SA (Sentinel View) with my wife on our 21st wedding anniversary.

So, you are now officially challenged to go out there and have an adventure. If you survive, please send in your story and it could be featured in our bimonthly Geocaching Adventures article.

Drop us a mail on

It is with sadness and disappointment that the organising committee of The Bay Cache Bash in Port Elizabeth has to announce the cancelation of the 2021 event due to COVID-19.

In the light of the current third wave, we are entering, and the announcement made last night by the president, the decision was made for us. At this stage indications are that this third wave could last two months and that leaves less than a month before the event has to take place. Already we have seen that a lot of cachers are wary to travel, don't want to plan their travels too far ahead not knowing what is going to happen or just can't travel due to the current economic climate. This was also visible in the fact that we have been struggling to reach the target of 300 Will Attends within our goal time.

We would like to thank everybody who have logged their Will Attends and showed their support by offering to help where needed. If you were planning to travel to Port Elizabeth we really apologise for the inconvenience, but unfortunately it is out of our hands. Also, a big thank you to the GoSA committee for their support and encouragement the whole time.

As The Bay Cache Bash 2021 has not received Mega status, HQ won't be able to change the date on the listing to 2022. The current listing will thus be archived.

The committee has decided to not commit to a date in 2022 straight away but to first see what the future holds for us and then to get input from the whole Geocaching community before deciding on the next step. Please know that we stay committed to hosting the biggest and best Geocaching event in South Africa right here in Port Elizabeth at some stage in the future. Really hope to see you all in PE at some stage!!!!

GIFF 2021

Just a reminder that the Geocaching International Film Festival is back! Submissions open on 1 June 2021 and close on 5 August 2021. Who is going to take up the challenge and submit a South African entry?

Current Souvenirs

Souvenirs are virtual pieces of art that you can earn, discover, and display on your profile page. They are associated with a particular location and may also be bound by time.

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Planetary Pursuit - Exploring our Solar System by Exploring our Planet
Hidden Creature Souvenirs
Cache of the Month June 2018
Mega Event?

Planetary Pursuit - Exploring our Solar System by Exploring our Planet

A journey of many miles, and even time travel…

When this challenge was announced by GC.com my attention was raised somewhat higher than usual over the previous ones. This one appealed to me on the level of a cosmological enthusiast as well as having not completed a challenge in its entirety since the 31 Days of Geocaching back in August 2013.

The nature of my work allows opportunities to geocache in several countries, but at the same time sometimes it doesn’t leave much time to do it. As a long-haul freight pilot, I work a somewhat irregular schedule which usually involves lots of late nights and daytime snoozing.

The Planetary Pursuit would prove to be a challenge indeed…

My journey started in Johannesburg where I live. To get a small head start before flying back to work in Japan, I tried to incorporate some geocaching during some last-minute errands, and I found four geocaches in a morning. These would prove to be the last South African geocaches I would find during the Planetary Pursuit.

My first stop was Narita in Japan, about an hour’s drive outside downtown Tokyo. Luckily for me there is the Inbanuma Pond- the biggest lake in Chiba Prefecture- with a cycling track all around it. I have geocached here many times before, and it has always been my ‘go-to’ geocaching spot due to many geocaches placed in a power trail fashion.

In true power trail fashion though, the caches around the Inbanuma Pond are small and quite unremarkable- with none to very few favourite points, necessitating the need to find a lot to get anywhere beyond the Inner Planet souvenirs.

Travelling east took me to Anchorage, Alaska, an area renowned for the great outdoors, something that we all know goes hand in hand with geocaching. Except at this time of year, the whole state is snowed under and is very cold - temperatures dipped to -16° on some days I visited. I still was able to find some caches though: those that weren’t buried by the snow.

A brief stop in Chicago yielded one quick cache, before I set off still eastwards to Germany.

The small double town of Traben-Trarbach along the Mosel River is a quintessential German village - quaint with beautiful scenery, churches, rolling hills with Riesling vines and castle ruins. I was fortunate to spend several days here and got to explore the area by foot, finding several wonderfully thought out and well placed geocaches.

Spending some idle time in Germany had me planning the rest of my Planetary Pursuit journey. I had an upcoming trip to Seattle and I started planning a trip to two meccas - the Boeing factory and to Geocaching HQ. But things were looking tight - I started a tally of how many and what kind of caches I had to find in order to reach Pluto and become a Space Explorer on a high note - finding the cache at Geocaching HQ.

Onward - and back to Japan briefly. And then, something strange happened…

How can you find two different caches over 5000kms apart on the same day, and find the second one before the first one? Time travel? Not as difficult as you would think - you just have to cross the International Date Line. Often, we takeoff from Tokyo in the evening and land a few hours later ‘before’ we left, in the morning of the same calendar day in Anchorage. Confusing for the body, confusing for logging geocaches!

After find caches in Japan, Anchorage and Chicago again, I arrived in Seattle, hoping to complete my journey which by this stage had become fairly tiring.

After an amazing visit to the Boeing factory in Everett to see how the aeroplanes I fly are made, I found myself in Fremont where GC.com is headquartered. According to my tally I had to find two caches worth 15 points, drop six TBs and then log the geocache at GC HQ to become a Space Explorer. Fortunately, I was able to find two such caches nearby that were part of a geo-tour, picking up some TB’s along the way.

I arrived at the Lily Pad and was greeted by one of the Lackeys, who showed me around the visitor’s center. After discovering some rare trackables and having my photo taken with Signal, I found the geocache at GC HQ, dropped some TB’s and filled out the two logbooks- one for a written log and one for your photo with Signal.

Sitting down, I logged onto GC.com to log my finds for the day…

Mercury through to Pluto by exploring our own planet, Earth.
Here are some statistics from my journey:

Geocaches found:
Traditionals: 62
Mysteries: 4 (incl. Geocaching HQ)
Multi: 1
Total Caches: 67

Cache-to-Cache distance: 63926,86km
Maximum distance in one day: 5545km (12 caches)
Countries visited: 4 (South Africa, Japan, Germany, USA)

Article submitted by Halty

Hidden Creature Souvenirs

After hearing about this amazing adventure finding all the planetary souvenirs, are you ready for Geocaching HQ's next challenge? Recently, 13 sightings of magical creatures and otherworldly beings have been reported. Embark on a global adventure to try to witness these mythical creatures in their unique habitats. From June 27 through July 25, earn up to 13 mythical creature souvenirs by finding geocaches and attending events.

Find out more...

Mega Event?

The next big event planned is the 2018 Jolly Jozi Jol, GC7DAJM. We are trying to get this one Mega status, which needs 500 will attends to achieve that. If you will be in Gauteng on 29 September and will be joining us for the event, please log your will attend now so we can get this event up to Mega status. At date of publishing we are already up to 465 WILL ATTENDS, so are almost there. Please check your calendar and book the weekend now.

Cache of the Month

This month's theme was Best Field Puzzle, and we got some fantastic nominations. All the field puzzles sounded very impressive, but our winner this month is very innovative and unique, even requiring some musical skills to get the container open, and had multiple nominations.

The Cache of the Month for June 2018 is GC69XG7 Puzzle Containers 6 - Nursery Rhymes which is one of a series of field puzzle containers by jtomcat16, and this one has a awesome 93% favourite point ratio.

Next month's COTM will be the best Golden Oldie - a geocache that is older than 10 years old (placed between 2001 and 2008). From August we will not have a specific theme but general COTMs again. Please send your nominations to .

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Geocaching Apps
CITO Weeks 2017
Puzzle Solving
Project APE
Putting Sedgefield on the Caching Map

Geocaching Apps

How would we survive these days without our smartphone apps? Whether you do your app shopping on the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store, you are probably often looking for the best and latest apps to help you achieve something.

Like most activities today, Geocaching also has a variety of apps available. Recently, Groundspeak announced that they are retiring their Classic App (read about it here). This has forced many geocachers into reviewing which app they are using. We have put together our list of apps here; feel free to try them out. Please let us have your reviews and thoughts on them, or give us others to add to the list that you also use by contacting our webmasters.

Weekend Events

There are still some weekend events coming up between now and July:

GC6ZWE2 - Camping Weekend 2017 Areena Riverside Resort from 24-26 March near East London
GC6ZGGN - Tswaing Crater Sleepover IX, 2017 from 21-23 July near Pretoria

CITO Weeks 2017

Cache In Trash Out® is an ongoing environmental initiative supported by the worldwide geocaching community.

Since 2002, geocachers around the world have been dedicated to improving parks and other cache-friendly places. Through these volunteer efforts, we help preserve the natural beauty of our outdoor resources! Geocachers around the world celebrate International Cache In Trash Out weekend annually by hosting and participating in Cache In Trash Out Events in their local area. Events might be focused on litter clean-up, removal of invasive species, revegetation efforts or building trails. Together, we make an enormous positive impact. Did we mention that we also have a bit of fun while we're at it?

The 2017 Annual Cache In Trash Out Weeks are scheduled for April 22 - April 30 and September 23 - October 1. Watch our site for a list of CITO events as they get published. Isn't one near you yet, consider hosting one then!

Puzzle Solving

We have put together a guide to puzzle solving, to help start you on your way when it comes to getting the solution for one of those many unfound question marks on your map.

It may not help you solve every puzzle, but will at least get you thinking about them again.

Project APE

Recently one of the long lost Project APE caches was found. Groundspeak is running a community poll to decide what to with the cache. Have your say on whether it should be reactivated in some form, or become a special game piece or trackable by voting here before the 5th March 2017.

Putting Sedgefield on the Caching Map

The Garden Route is a stunningly beautiful quaint stretch of the coastline we are privileged to be able to enjoy. Sedgefield is one of the smaller towns and, without stopping, one can very easily miss its magnificent tranquillity and authentic natural beauty.

BoazRuthFields regularly walks along the Swartvlei estuary picking up rubbish. As he walked he decided that he needed to share the beauty and uniqueness of the spot with others. He started by placing the first cache in a cave on the water’s edge (GC689QN) but then decided the best way to share the experience would be to place a Wherigo that takes you along the river banks. Combine that with a CITO and the environment will benefit as well. This then expanded into a caching day with a wide variety of caches.

As word got out the day became more popular and the pressure was on to place more caches and by the time the day dawned there were 2 events (one being the CITO), an Earth Cache, Letterbox, Mystery, Wherigo, Multi and 10 Traditionals (all new). This new 8 Icon day combined with a variety of high Difficulty and Terrain ratings resulted in cachers coming from as far as Cape Town and East London for the day.

The day (4 February 2017) started with a breakfast at the well-known Wild Oats Community Farmers Market. There were lots of familiar faces and some new ones. Approximately 20 cachers/teams attended. BoazRuthFields could not attend as he had been rushing through the night on the only available transport at the time, his bicycle, checking on all the caches and making sure all was good for the day.

After breakfast the cachers spread around but most followed the river picking up the new caches as they went. The highlight of the morning was the Kingfisher Creek Extreme cache (GC6ZYFB) that saw a group, with a ladder, in the middle of the river to retrieve the cache. After that one it was down to the beach and into some impenetrable alien bush on the top of the sand dunes.

A short break for lunch and then it was time for the Wherigo and CITO. At this stage it must be mentioned that the river mouth was still closed to the sea and after the rain the river was almost two meters deeper than normal. Instead of an easy walk down the river bank the CITO and Wherigo was aptly named a “Wheriswim” by the caching group.

The locals must have thought the cachers were crazy. First a ladder in the middle of the river and then a swim down the river with one hand held high to stop the GPS/smartphone getting wet.

The Wherigo followed a story of an Epic Quest. The programming was unique and well thought out. The routing was fantastic. Once completed the wet and tired group dispersed, either to shower and get dry or to cache some more.

Those that stayed over in Sedgefield met the following morning to do the Waterfall Extreme cache (GC6ZYGV). It was great to do this one in a group with the CO in attendance. It will be very difficult if you are on your own. Another amazing secluded beautiful spot shared.
Thanks to BoazRuthFields “The Sedge” is now on the caching map! Well done! It was an awesome experience enjoyed by all those that attended.
Article submitted by ChrisDen

Tjoklits on the pole - GC6ZYFB

The easier of the “Dune” Caches

CITO/Wherigo in the river

River crossing - GC6ZYGV

Team “Waterfall Extreme”

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iPajero's trip across America
Mega geocoin available
Geocaching International Film Festival 2016

iPajero's trip across America

This month we are privileged to have iPajero, who are the most prolific geocachers in Africa (and South Africa then obviously) with currently more than 14 000 finds, share the details of their visit to America with us. During their 5 month trip, they travelled almost 30 000 kilometres and found 1 900 geocaches, including finding the oldest active cache in the world and visiting the Groundspeak Headquarters. Read all about their fascinating trip here.

There are some big geocaching weekend events coming up in the next few months:
• GC6B2Y6 Tswaing Crater Sleepover VIII, 2016 on 15-17 July in Gauteng
• GC6FRHH At The Coast (Weekend Event) on 26 - 28 August in Western Cape
Both these events look like they will be fantastic weekends, with lots of fun activities planned, so try attend one of them. If there is nothing like this near you, maybe you should get together with some of your fellow local geocachers and plan one for your area,

The first set of CITO Week 2016 events are over now, were you one of the more than 80 teams that helped clean up the environment around you?

The next CITO week is September 17-25, keep an eye out for the next set of events.

16 Years of Geocaching

This May geocaching turns Sweet Sixteen. On 2 May 2000 GPS signals were descrambled, increasing the accuracy of GPS devices worldwide by ten times. The following day, what would become known as the first geocache (now called The Original Stash and with GC code GCF) was hidden.

Mega 2016

Cape Town 2016 (GC5YRDE) is the next South African Mega-Event. For the latest news and updates about this exciting event, you can:

like the SA Geocaching Events Facebook group or follow them on Twitter at @GeocacheEventZA
visit the www.capetown2016.co.za website to register and get the activity program. Early bird tickets and various items of Mega gear are available already.
The stunning Mega Geocoin has gone on sale during April, order yours now from the Mega Team or from the Caching store or from the Capri Cache Store.

Film Festival 2016

The Geocaching International Film Festival is back for the fourth year in a row.

The GIFF 2016 theme is Story Worthy Moments. Groundspeak are asking you to think of your most noteworthy, most exceptional geocaching stories...and get them on camera.

Submit your film by August 1, 2016 for the chance to have it viewed by a worldwide geocaching audience. Find out more.

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Geocaching in the Media
Cache of the Month May 2018
Mega Event?
Ezemvelo Adventure

Geocaching in the Media

Recently, some of our GoSA committee members were fortunate enough to get an opportunity to profile geocaching on the SABC3 Breakfast Show Expresso. You can watch their insert about geocaching here.

Cache of the Month

Storms’s River, the Bloukrans bridge, the Outeniqua mountains, the Karoo, Baviaanskloof, Langkloof and Joubertina are all visible from the highest point of the Tsitsikama mountains. Here lies Formosa Peak, GC4TMME, this month’s Cache of the Month which boasts breathtaking 360 degree views!

This geocache is for all those avid hikers keen to tackle a challenging trail. Thank you to Team Schutte for putting this peak on the geocaching map!

Do you know of a cache that is worthy of the title of Cache of the Month? Please nominate it for the GoSA Cache of the Month by emailing the details (name, GC code) as well as a justification as to what makes it so amazing. Please include as much detail as possible even if it does include spoilers to help us make an informed choice for the winner - if possible please include a picture of the cache as well.

For June and July there are more specific criteria for the COTM. June's COTM will be for the geocache with the best field puzzle while July will feature the best golden oldie geocache. This refers to a geocache that is older than 10 years old (placed in 2008 or before).

Please send your nominations to .

Mega Event?

The next big event planned is the 2018 Jolly Jozi Jol, GC7DAJM. We are trying to get this one Mega status, which needs 500 will attends to achieve that. If you will be in Gauteng on 29 September and will be joining us for the event, please log your will attend now so we can get this event up to Mega status. At date of publishing we are already up to 315 WILL ATTENDS, so please check your calendar and book the weekend now.

Ezemvelo Caching Weekend

Ezemvelo Nature Reserve? Never heard of it. That was before Georg (Namibseun) and his team found this idyllic spot for a geocaching event!

Ezemvelo Nature Reserve is situated about 20km North-East of Bronkhorstspruit. It is really a hidden gem on the border of Gauteng and Mpumalanga. It is fairly flat with numerous roads and paths for hiking, mountain biking and driving. There is plentiful game and bird life for nature enthusiasts, even a dam for fishing.

Most teams arrived on Friday the 13th with a few that arrived later. In all there were about 30 caching teams. A great turnout.

On Saturday morning the hikers were taken around the 12km Protea trail and the MTB riders struck out on the 22km Burkea trail. In all there were 49 new caches that had popped up at 8am. 24 for the hikers placed by WorsEd and 25 for the bikers placed by Namibseun. The caching was great fun with a beautiful day (even though a bit hot) with lots of caches to find and lots of caching stories to be told while on the trails. Most of the time we were watched by some wildebeest or zebra. The afternoon was used by some to recover while other drove to pick up some of the caches on the alternate trail.

As the dark set in the braai fires were lit and once again the general topic was caching with lots of laughter and fun.

On Sunday morning there were once again two trails to attempt. The Ochna trail for the hikers which was 4km with 11 new caches and a MTB trail along the boundary fence with 15 caches placed by Jors. The hiking group seemed to have shrunk since the previous day despite some Saturday afternoon arrivals that were added. The biking group made a strategic decision not to go. The walk was a nice easy one with a bit of competition as to who would find the most caches. The walk was followed by a CITO around the dam picnic spot.

The caches were in great condition even though they had been placed last year starting in September. The baboons had managed to grab some but each group had the CO along to make sure the cache was found. In addition to the four caches that were in the reserve there are now an additional 76 new ones, including a few Multi’s, Letterboxes and Mystery caches. The real adventurous could have logged 83 smileys over the weekend.

A wonderful weekend and a must visit destination if you are a cacher that prefers the open spaces to the crowded city.

A massive thank you to Namibseun for the organisation and to Namibseun, WorsEd and Jors for the large amount of caches.

Article by ChrisDen; Photos by Panthera03

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GoSA Grapevine

Survey results, Big Blue Switch Day, Tips for Newbies and more…

From the Desk of the Chairman

What brilliant timing! April 2021 was a slow month, but I have an entire survey to talk about, so I’ll be using this space to report on that. 101 of your submitted responses and as a committee, we’re incredibly grateful as it gives us good direction.

I found the areas and number of caches found be quite broad. Most of the submissions came from Gauteng, Kwa-Zulu Natal, and the Western Cape with over 25% each and the Eastern Cape with just over 15% and the other five provinces sharing the rest.

9 out of 10 of you believe this newsletter comes out enough while the other 1 would like to see it come out more often. What was very encouraging though was that 40 people volunteered to contribute to the newsletter so you may be seeing more content very soon.

In terms of social media, Facebook won out, with Instagram coming second and surprise, surprise, TikTok comes in third. We don’t have a TikTok account to be clear but it’s good to know where the demand is. Obviously, we can’t do it all on our own as the social media component is very community driven so, please keep using #GeocachingSouthAfrica and/or feel free to tag us.

In terms of events, looks like the quicker events are preferable though only by a minor margin next to outing events with weekend sleepover events and travelling events also gaining favour, but this was the best indicator for me; answers to what appeals to you as a geocacher and “finding new places” is by far the biggest motivator it would seem.

As far as the other stats, those will be guiding us, and we thank you once again for giving your opinions on things like cache of the month and the like. We’ll be taking them into consideration as we go along.

From a non-survey point of view, it was pretty cool to go caching on the International Space Station as well as seeing Lab Caches on the map. Oh and obviously, what kind of report would it be if I didn’t remind you to log your will attends and invite your friends too for the Bay Cache Bash…only this time, you also get a pretty sweet video!

Have an awesome May and may you find the most awesome places on your geocaching adventures.

Adventure Lab Caches Update

The Geocaching® app just got a little more adventurous! You will never miss out on an Adventure Lab cache again as GCHQ has added Adventure Lab® pins to the map in the app for Premium members. You can now easily search, filter, and discover the Adventure Labs right from the app.

Adventure Labs take you on a contactless, socially distanced scavenger hunt to unlock fun stories, solve puzzles, and explore new places. Adventures are represented by their own pin type, so they are easily recognizable on the map. Premium members, look for this hot air balloon pin:

Tapping on the icon will show you the name of the Adventure Lab, the distance to the first point, the overall rating for the lab and how many stages it consists of. Once you then tap on the informational pop-up block you will be directed to the Adventure Lab® app which can be downloaded here!

Don’t forget that there is the Science of Discovery Challenge that is currently running – you earn the most points toward this souvenir by finding Adventure Labs so check out which of the 77 South African Adventure Lab caches are closest to you and get adventuring!

Blue Switch Day is Here!

When GPS was first developed, it was only available for use by the U.S. military. Eventually GPS was opened up to civilians but with Selective Availability. This meant that although everyone had access, the accuracy was lowered for civilians. On 2 May 2000, the U.S. government “flipped the switch” so high-accuracy GPS was available to everyone. For reasons unknown, geocachers know this as Blue Switch Day. However, there really wasn’t a blue switch!

Opening up accurate GPS technology to everyone around the globe launched a flow of innovation and new cutting-edge technology that changed the world forever. It created an entirely new world of possibilities. It’s not a coincidence the first geocache was hidden on May 3, 2000, and the game of geocaching was born!

Starting from 2 May 2021 until 31 December 2021, you can earn the Blue Switch Day 2021 souvenir by finding a geocache, Adventure Lab®, or attending an Event.

Community Feedback

Its always good to get feedback from the community, we recently got an email from newbie cacher, Neilke Pretorius AKA Gypsy*7, which she has kindly agreed that we can share in the newsletter:

“I love Geocaching so thanks guys for all the effort that you put in. I am planning to grade up to the premium app…. So excited!! Attached is a geocache that I did in Rosendal a few weeks back with my log of 103 geocaches. Keep well and hope to see you’ll at a social sometime.”

Well done Neilke on your finds so far – keep caching and having fun!

Have a story or photo you want to share with the community? Please send us an email on

Geocaching Tips for Newbies

I recently came across an article with a list of tips for newbies, things that have become second nature to some of the more experienced geocachers and thought it would be a great idea to share some of them.

It’s a GAME – have fun!
Pay attention to the cache page (size, difficulty, description, etc.)
If at first you don’t succeed – try, try again!
When you get close to Ground Zero (GZ) put the GPS or phone away and look – you will over time hone your geosense.
Read the hint, think, and search outside the box!
Be polite in logging - There are people under those usernames!
Write a great log – as much as you enjoy finding the cache, the cache owner enjoys reading a good log, something more than TFTC!
Always BYOP (bring your own pen)
Try not to look suspicious – a clipboard or high vis vest goes a long way to help you blend in
Respect your surroundings and the environment!
Be sure to report any problems to the cache owner but remember that just because you haven’t been able to find the cache and are logging a DNF does not necessarily mean that it is missing – there are some sneaky caches out there.
Pack water and snacks – often a quick hour of caching turns into a morning or afternoon outing when the “just one more” bug bites.
Be sure to bring trade items (SWAG) with you - you might find something cool to trade – no money, food, cigarettes, or other inappropriate items – remember this is a family friendly game!
Attend events – it’s a great way to get to know local geocachers and pick up hints and tips on puzzle solving, etc.
Pay attention to the difficulty (1-5) and terrain (1-5) ratings and start with easier caches – especially when working on puzzles.
Try not to bundu bash your way to the cache – there are more often than not
Read recent logs for up-to-date status of cache, hints, help, clarifications, etc.
Use a stick to poke into holes - spiders, snakes, scorpions etc love protecting our caches.
Tell someone where you plan to be (especially if you are caching alone) and always be aware of your surroundings.
Wear/bring appropriate clothing and footwear – as much as we love slops, they aren’t great for tree climbs and long walks.
Have a first aid kit with you – bug bites, scratches and splinters are common.
Understand the concept of travel bugs and the procedure – if you take one out of a cache, discover it and move it on to another cache.
Replace the geocache exactly as found – the cache owner knows where they wanted it placed, please don’t move it to a spot you think is better.
It is a good idea to Find at least 20 caches before hiding your own – try find different sizes, types, etc – it will give you a good feel for the game.

If you are a newbie (or just new-ish) geocacher, we hope this list was helpful. If you are a veteran geocacher, what tips would YOU add to the list? Please drop us a line and let us know – maybe we can make this a regular feature in the newsletter.

Have you started to plan your visit to the Friendly City for The Bay Cache Bash on 25 September? Don't just see it as a big event that would give you the opportunity to add a special icon to your profile. See it as an adventure, a full package experience!

Start by watching the promotional video the PE team has put together.
Plan a road trip and line up a whole series of caches along the way. Visit some "must see and do" caches-en-route.
Research the area and make a list of all the caches you want to make sure you do during your stay.
Plan a holiday and not just a caching trip.
Arrive early and spend a few days in the area to grab as many of the awesome caches in and around Port Elizabeth during your stay.
Attend some of the events being organised in the week before and the week after.
Join some of the outings, walks, excursions, and activities being planned in the week before and after.
Link up with a local cacher and let them show you the best caches the area has to offer.

We are currently on 211 Will Attend logs for the event and this number needs to reach 300 before we are able to apply for Mega status. Please assist us to get to this magical number as soon as possible so that the planning for the event can go ahead full steam.

Please log your Will Attend today at – The Bay Cache Bash 2021. If you have any enquiries you can send an email to –

Souvenir Sorting

In another new update from GCHQ, you can now sort your souvenirs on both the website and the app!

In the Geocaching® app (8.47.0 or higher), sort souvenir names from A to Z, or by newest first. Your sorting selection will be sticky, so it’s always in the order you prefer. On Geocaching.com, sort souvenir names from A to Z and Z to A—or by newest or oldest first. Plus, for the love of numbers, we added your souvenir count.

Your list of souvenirs can be found on your profile page on the app and in the left-hand menu of your account dashboard on the website.

Once you click on the link to your souvenirs you will then be able to select how to organise them from a drop down menu. Your souvenir count will display in the same bar on the right hand side.

Clicking on the icon for each souvenir you have earned will give you more information about the souvenir, ie – the artists name and additional information about each souvenir.

Current Souvenirs

Souvenirs are virtual pieces of art that you can earn, discover, and display on your profile page. They are associated with a particular location and may also be bound by time.

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International Geocaching Day is on 15 August

International Geocaching Day

International Geocaching Day 2015 is on 15 August 2015, and this year is Geocaching's 15th Birthday.

There are already several big events planned for the day in Gauteng, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Mossel Bay and the Western Cape. Check out the website for more details.

Other upcoming geocaching activities include:

An Earthcaching event in Barberton on 8 August 2015

Mega 2016

Mega 2016 is happening at The Wild Fig in Observatory, Cape Town from 1-2 October 2016. The Mega team is running a Mega Geocoin design competition. The cut-off date for your design is 31 August 2015. The winning artist will receive a Mega Geocoin, free registration to the Mega Event and a surprise goodie bag... Send your entry to

Follow the Mega Event Facebook group, SA Geocaching Mega Events for the latest news and updates.

Delbadore in India

South African Geocacher Delbadore has been fortunate to find several geocaches in India. Read about his experience on our website. There is also a photo gallery of all his finds.

Geocaching Road Trip ’15

The Geocaching Road Trip '15 is now full steam ahead.

After each quest begins, you’ll be able to complete it and earn your souvenir until 2 September 2015. Complete all five and you'll earn a sixth, extra special souvenir.

Quest open Find a geocache with 10 or more Favourite Points
Quest open Attend an Event, Mega-Event or Giga-Event
Quest open Find a T5 or D5 geocache
Quest open Find an EarthCache or attend a CITO
Quest opens August 14 Find a Mystery Cache

All the quest details are available on the geocaching.com blog.

There are several events being organised around the country to support the Road Trip souvenir collection, check out our website for more details.

Share your geocaching stories

We are looking for your fun, interesting, unusual or exciting geocaching stories to share with the geocaching community. If you want to share yours, then send it to us by emailing it to our webmasters.

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Hiking, Geocaching & Exploring South Africa

If you are a German couple staying in East London for two years and had never been to South Africa before, the best way to explore this amazing country is to go geocaching!

We (gocky123 and CatWorld) have recently taken a wonderful trip and would like to share our experience with you. Staying in East London means being spoilt by a whopping 400+ caches, placed and maintained by members of the active geocaching community in the area, e.g. iPajero and Monti’s Adventure. But it is worth to venture out, and geocaches will always guide us to important, historic or simply beautiful places.

On Saturday, 22nd April 2017, we left East London on the N6 and we drove all the way north to Bloemfontein. There are many nice geocaches by the Puzzled Penguins on the N6 that break the long drive into exciting little adventures. As Bloemfontein was very busy due to a prayer meeting held at a nearby farm, we didn’t search for many caches there (pity!), but instead continued to Kimberley. After a good night of sleep, we visited the big hole and diamond museum.

There is a lot to learn about the creation of diamonds from a geological point of view, as well as the history of the town and competition between various miners. We very much enjoyed the geocaches around the big hole.

We then continued our trip to Mokala National Park, the youngest of the SAN Parks. Mokala is Setswana for Camel Thorn Tree, and there sure is an abundance of those in the park - while there is currently only one geocache hidden. We performed maintenance on it and it's ready to be found. The animals we saw were amazing, including tssesebe and rare roan antelopes, cute pygmy falcons and majestic rhinos.

After the game viewing and relaxing, we moved on to the Augrabies National Park. This is where we met fellow hikers of the East London hiking club ‘Let’s hike’. Together we tackled the 3-day Klipspringer hiking trail. For someone who has never seen arid dry national parks before, the fauna and flora were interesting to discover. We especially liked the quiver trees and the sociable weavers that sometimes build enormous nests in them. The geocaches we found during our hike can also be accessed by car, as most are hidden at fantastic look-outs over the majestic orange river. One of the most impressive sights in the park is Moon Rock, a huge and even granite hump. The earth cache (Moon Rock, GC599R) explains all about it, but it still feels eerie to hike up its smooth surface and look down into the desert-like landscape.

After a hot but rewarding 3-day hike, the whole group moved on through Upington, crossed the Namibian border and set camp in Ai-Ais. For those who have not been, Ai-Ais is an oasis in the dry south of Namibia, at the end of the Fish River Canyon, where hot springs (65°C) bubble out from below the earth’s surface. There is a hike up a mountain that can be taken from the camp. The climb takes about 1 hour if you are reasonably fit and you will be rewarded with a geocache (Hot on Top, GCKW1B) and a great look-out down towards the camp.

And then came the highlight of the trip: Our five day hike through the Fish River Canyon, from Hobas back to Ai-Ais. Every day we discovered new beautiful aspects of the canyon. From wild horses, hot springs and an old Vespa to amazing rock formations, a grave, the refreshing Fish River and a lot of fine sand. We experienced the dry heat of the day and slept under the vast starry sky. The Fish River was flowing nicely and we could drink from it without filtering the water. The group had a very positive spirit, which could be felt every day when moments of success were shared – e.g. when gocky123 and I found the occasional cache along the route (there are three inside the canyon). We even inspired one of our muggle hiker friends to join the game: Welcome namibnomad to the E.L. geocaching community!

To sum up, we feel more than ever that experiencing the outdoors through geocaching and hiking is a great way of life. This beautiful country of South Africa has so much to offer, and it is best discovered by teaming up with special friends and getting out there. Thank you to all COs, geocachers and reviewers who helped make this an unforgettable trip!

photos: Great hole in Kimberley, Hot on Top, sunset in Mokala National Park, Almost done @ 80 of 88 kms, Hiking the Fish, Majestic Fish River Canyon.

Article submitted by CatWorld & gocky123

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Nelson Mandela Bay Annual Caching Weekend

The weekend of 24 to 26 February saw event GC6XE7Y, the 3rd annual NMB Caching weekend away, organised by PumTim and KitchenBoss. This year the event was held at the inniKloof camp site in the Gamtoos Valley.

Once again this event was well supported with teams arriving from Cape Town, the Garden Route and East London to complement a number of more local teams from NMB and its surrounds.

Approximately 40 new caches were placed in the area with a wide variety of cache types. As has become the norm at this event, it was possible to grab eight icons over the weekend.

Cachers started arriving early with iPajero, Strandlopers w&e and k j being some of the first to park their vans and put up their tents. Most of the rest arrived on Friday afternoon with some Cape Town teams arriving late after a full day’s caching en-route to inniKloof.

The main task for Saturday was to tackle the long walk to the inniKloof Waterfall cache (GC6BNN3). A good 7km (14km round trip) walk up a mountain, along the ridge and then down an almost vertical descent to a magnificent waterfall. Luckily the weather played along and we had a cool overcast day during a week that had seen temperatures in the upper 30’s.

On arrival we were faced with a D4.5 container hidden by plainoldgraham, but that was only second priority as the first priority was to swim in the cool water and admire the magnificent waterfall. The fit people found it as they left almost at the same time as the not so fit arrived at the waterfall. The group really got spread out. Farm owner John acted as a magnificent guide on the trail and made sure everyone got there and back safely. The walk is well worth your while with some magnificent scenery along the trail. The waterfall at the end is the cherry on the top.

While most of the group sweated their way to the waterfall some teams decided to rather cache locally. The Capetonians drove through to Port Elizabeth to grab as many caches as they could.

Both Friday and Saturday evening saw a huge fire being made in the communal fire pit and lots of caching stories were told over a few beers and glasses of wine. In fact, the few glasses of wine might have been the cause of the serenading of some of the chalets late on Saturday evening (or was it Sunday morning?).

Congratulations to the organisers. Another successful one. Looking forward to next year!

Article submitted by ChrisDen

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Putting Sedgefield on the Caching Map

The Garden Route is a stunningly beautiful quaint stretch of the coastline we are privileged to be able to enjoy. Sedgefield is one of the smaller towns and, without stopping, one can very easily miss its magnificent tranquillity and authentic natural beauty.

BoazRuthFields regularly walks along the Swartvlei estuary picking up rubbish. As he walked he decided that he needed to share the beauty and uniqueness of the spot with others. He started by placing the first cache in a cave on the water’s edge (GC689QN) but then decided the best way to share the experience would be to place a Wherigo that takes you along the river banks. Combine that with a CITO and the environment will benefit as well. This then expanded into a caching day with a wide variety of caches.

As word got out the day became more popular and the pressure was on to place more caches and by the time the day dawned there were 2 events (one being the CITO), an Earth Cache, Letterbox, Mystery, Wherigo, Multi and 10 Traditionals all new. This new 8 Icon day combined with variety of high Difficulty and Terrain ratings resulted in cachers coming from as far as Cape Town and East London for the day.

The day (4 February 2017) started with a breakfast at the well-known Wild Oats Community Farmers Market. There were lots of familiar faces and some new ones. Approximately 20 cachers/teams attended. BoazRuthFields could not attend as he had been rushing through the night on the only available transport at the time, his bicycle, checking on all the caches and making sure all was good for the day.

After breakfast the cachers spread around but most followed the river and picking up the new caches as they went. The highlight of the morning was the Kingfisher Creek Extreme cache (GC6ZYFB) that saw a group, with a ladder, in the middle of the river to retrieve the cache. After that one it was down to the beach and into some impenetrable alien bush on the top of the sand dunes.

A short break for lunch and then it was time for the Wherigo and CITO. At this stage it must be mentioned that the river mouth was still closed to the sea and after the rain the river was almost two meters deeper than normal. Instead of an easy walk down the river bank the CITO and Wherigo was aptly named a “Wheriswim” by the caching group.

The locals must have thought the cachers were crazy. First a ladder in the middle of the river and then a swim down the river with one hand held high to stop the GPS/smartphone getting wet.

The Wherigo followed a story of an Epic Quest. The programming was unique and well thought out. The routing was fantastic. Once completed the wet and tired group dispersed, either to shower and get dry or to cache some more.

Those that stayed over in Sedgefield met the following morning to do the Waterfall Extreme cache (GC6ZYGV). It was great to do this one in a group with the CO in attendance. It will be very difficult if you are on your own. Another amazing secluded beautiful spot shared.
Thanks to BoazRuthFields “The Sedge” is now on the caching map! Well done! It was an awesome experience enjoyed by all those that attended.
Article submitted by ChrisDen

Tjoklits on the pole - GC6ZYFB

The easier of the “Dune” Caches

CITO/Wherigo in the river

River crossing - GC6ZYGV

Team “Waterfall Extreme”

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The end of a major run

The 20th January 2017 might have come and gone without it being a noteworthy day but for Gerhard and Marika who make up the caching team Spesbona it was a very unusual day. For the first time for over 3 and a half years they did not go out and find a cache for that day.

Spesbona started caching on 4 May 2013 and found at least one cache a day until 19 January 2017. This streak of 1 357 days is the longest streak for any geocacher from South Africa.

While chasing the streak Spesbona has also managed to complete the DT Matrix twice and accumulate over 430 FTFs. The number of FTFs is impressive because on days that more than one cache was published they would only go for one and leave the others for a later day.

Doing one cache a day allows time for a decent log and Spesbona does spend time on writing a unique log for each cache. Their logs average 146 words and have plenty of pictures attached, over 4 000. Of course, there is an exception to this rule. Every now and again Spesbona goes on holiday to a location where there are large numbers of caches and has a splurge. On these occasions there will be some cut and paste in the log. In April 2015 they went on a tour and collected 968 caches for the month. The 2016 holiday was in July where they found 468 caches in the month.

We asked Spesbona a few questions about their geocaching adventure so we could share it with you.

GoSA: Who introduced you to geocaching?
Spesbona: An old school friend, now living down under, posted on Facebook that she found a cache, and that got me interested.

GoSA: You started your streak from day 1 of caching. Was this a conscious decision or did it just happen?
Spesbona: It was the proverbial like a fish to water scenario. Just liked it from day one. On the way to work, or back home would stop to try and find a cache. Only realised there is something like a streak when I got introduced to Project-GC. By then the streak was already 30 days strong. Just love statistics, coupled with a “mild” case of OCD, that was bound to lead somewhere.

GoSA: Your first cache was a puzzle, a type that lots of cachers avoid. Do you enjoy puzzles, and if so, why?
Spesbona: Funny story. We started off with the GPSr I used in the car from work. Punched in the coordinates and we were on our way. Was a bit clueless. Did not know that you could pick the compass option, so we were more or less at a street address. It did not help that it was on a street corner. Had no clue what we were looking for. So actually, we could not find our first cache. Got back home and started reading up on other caches. Saw there was this puzzle one, and could figure out it was in the park, and it would be on the see-saw. That narrowed things down and it turned into our first find. Getting into puzzles at the start was daunting. People were doing it for a while and typically a new idea will build on an old one. So if you did not learn the ropes as they developed, you were in the deep end, and it was either sink or swim. Yes, I love puzzles. There are so many creative ways people find to hide the coordinates. It makes you think outside the box, and keeps the brain active. The best part is you can solve them at home, even during bad weather and in the middle of the night. To understand my feeling about puzzles, read my log on one of the first difficult puzzles I solved GC2T2E9 -The view at the top of the hill

GoSA: During your streak, was there any day where you did not really want to go out and find a cache?
Spesbona: No, that would have been the end of the streak. Must say we had a blast.

GoSA: Were you ever tempted to log a cache on the incorrect day to save finding one for that day?
Spesbona: No, that would be pointless. My OCD demanded a cache to be found. Besides this is an online game with a lot of people watching the stats. A bit silly to drag your own name through the mud.

GoSA: Why did you stop and why on such an unusual number?
Spesbona: For a long time we have realised that one day it would come to an end. 1357 just seemed like such a nice number, and we could end on our terms.

GoSA: Did you physically visit a cache every day or were there some Earth caches or similar where you could log later to fill a gap?
Spesbona: I know there are different ideas out there, but we log it on the day we visit ground zero. That way the statistics and the km’s travelled by the TB’s are all correct.

GoSA: Did you ever run out of caches reasonably close to home? How often did you have to drive long distances to fill a day?
Spesbona: First let me just say that the Port Elizabeth community has been great. We started just at the right time, with a lot of new cachers, placing a lot of new caches. That is the only reason we could keep on going for so long. Yes, we ran out completely at some stage. When we went to sleep that night we had no caches left in Port Elizabeth. The next morning still nothing, but later in the day there was some new ones. So the streak continued. We would plan well in advance, and would do longer drives on weekends, visiting family or a tourist destination. Longest distance on one day, to find one cache, was approximately 1200 km. Luckily it was a work trip.

GoSA: What was the feeling you had when you woke up on day 1 358 and knew you were not going to do a cache even though there were still some available close to home?
Spesbona: Peaceful and relaxed. The decision had been made.

GoSA: What are your caching targets now that the streak is over?
Spesbona: Solving a puzzle a day. Only joking. Hopefully get to place some more caches of our own. That has been on the back burner for a while.

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Tripod the GeoDog

Tripod the GeoDog

Tripod is a Miniature Japanese Fox terrier. Tripod as a tiny puppy of only a few days old was brought to our local vet to be euthanized after his mother chewed off most of his left lower hind leg. Instead of putting it down the vet decided to try for an amputation, not knowing if it would be successful on a tiny and young puppy as Tripod.

The day after the operation dolosC was at the vet picking up one of our own dogs. Hearing the vet talking about the tiny little puppy, dolosC wanted to know more and when she saw the tiny creature, there and then adopted the tiny puppy and brought it home. At home the puppy promptly became TRIPOD.

For the first week or so Tripod had to be fed both food and water from a syringe every two hours (day and night) and then every four hours etc. That meant that Tripod also had to go to work with dolos during the day and “pajama drills” at night. In the beginning it was touch and go to keep him alive, but the little guy showed great fighting spirit and every day he grew stronger and his little eyes showed a keenness to live.

Tripod grew up with his two Jack Russell friends Ruby and Buks which are only about eight months older than him. They play very rough with him and he has to stand his ground, which he does with a sharp little growl. Tripod is a little more careful around Jubal our older Jack Russell and very “catfoot” around Miloh our three legged (another tri-paw) cat.

Tripod functions as any normal dog would and he does not know that he is different. He plays fetch with his ball and runs very fast and can even keep up with Buks! He can swim the doggie paddle and has been knocked rolling by the waves at Kleinzee.

Tripod became a caching dog with his own Travel Tag (TB TRIPOD) and has travelled to Kimberley, Jan Kempdorp, Kleinzee, Port Nolloth, Ottosdal and Rustenburg and has cached with dolos all along the way. Tripod has become a regular at geocaching events and even shares the rooftop tent with dolos at sleepovers. Tripod has attended the Tswaing Crater Sleepover event and trotted most of the way during the hike. When Tripod gets tired dolosC puts him in her rucksack. His favorite spot remains on dolosC’s lap where he can give soft kisses to dolos.

Tripod also knows when it is time to jump in the car for a ride when we call him by his nicknames “Tri-Tri” or “Tritjie”, but he does not like his walking harness and prefers to be free to run around unobstructed. Tripod is definitely the most spoiled member of the dolos household and reminds dolos that one can overcome most anything with a bit of love, trust and will to succeed.

Article submitted by dolos

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