GoSA Grapevine April 2018 - Planetary Pursuit

Planetary Pursuit
Cache of the Month April 2018
Mega Event?
CITO Week 2018

Planetary Pursuit

The year is 2650. You are invited to join the Geocaching Explorers Club and be among the first geocachers to visit every planet in our Solar System earning souvenirs along the way. Find different geocache types to collect points on the Friend League between March 19 and April 8 and earn up to 10 new souvenirs to become an Official Space Explorer.

Visit Ground Control to find out more and find your caches by April 8!

Cache of the Month

Secret cargo aboard the Golden Cache was stolen by 5 cutthroat pirates. Mary Hyde, the captain, was furious and vowed to track down her treasure. She made notes in the ship’s logbook as to where she thought it was but tragically the ship sank one evening and there were no survivors. Mary’s notes survived although they are now in disarray. Will you honour Mary and help uncover the secret treasure?

This month’s Cache of the Month is Mary Hyde and The Great Star of Africa, GC7E49Z, an intricate puzzle that places you in the centre of Mary Hyde’s predicament. After being nominated twice it clearly deserves the award. Congratulations to Spesbona on creating a truly memorable geocaching experience!

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.

From next month we are moving to some specific criteria for COTM. In line with geocaching taking you to some amazing places, for May please nominate the geocache that you believe has the best view. June's COTM will be for the geocache with the best field puzzle.

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 267 WILL ATTENDS, so please check your calendar and book the weekend now.

CITO Week

CITO Week is happening from 21-29 April 2018. Time to start planning your local CITO event as it needs to be published by 7 April.

CITO events published in South Africa are listed on the Groundspeak site here.

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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Cache of the Month
Big Event 2018 Update
Seeing in the New Year

Cache of the Month

We are excited to reveal a special addition to the monthly newsletter for 2018!

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 for January 2018 by emailing the details (name, GC code) as well as a justification as to what makes it so amazing. You can send your nominations to .

Please note that you cannot nominate a geocache that you own. The GoSA committee will decide on the winner each month and the criteria for each month's Cache of the Month may change. We will announce the criteria for the upcoming month in the preceeding month's newsletter.

The owner of the selected Cache of the Month will be notified and sent a badge which they can add to their cache description.

Big Event 2018 Update

Next year on 29 and 30 September 2018, GoSA is hosting an event GC7DAJM “2018 Jolly Jozi Jol”. Currently it is just listed as an ordinary event (with 145 will attends at the time of going to press) but should there be sufficient interest as a result of will attend logs, then Geocaching HQ may grant it Mega status. But come what may, it should be a great time of networking with other geocachers.

So book it in your next year’s diary (which you may not even have yet) and make a date to come celebrate together. There will be something for everybody to enjoy and more importantly lots of new quality caches to find. Make a start and log your will attend and who knows, we may get Mega status yet and we look forward to seeing you all there.

Seeing in the New Year

Groundspeak has announced two new souvenirs, one to celebrate your last cache of 2017, and one to celebrate your first cache of 2018!

Find a geocache or attend an event on December 31, 2017 to earn the Last Cache of 2017 souvenir.
Find a geocache or attend an event on January 1, 2018 to earn the First Cache of 2018 souvenir.

Read more about the new souvenirs here.

There are also a whole bunch if events happening during December and January to celebrate the end of 2017 and the start of 2018, keep your eye on our events page to find some near you.

Geocaching International Film Festival Winner

Did you get to one of the GIFF screenings during November? We have a link to all the 2017 films here if you didn't.

Groundspeak have announced the winner, read more about the winning film here.

GoSA Annual General Meeting

Please note that the 2017 GoSA Annual General Meeting is scheduled for 11:00am on Saturday 9 December 2017. Please contact us by emailing for more details if you are interested in a playing a more active role in GoSA.

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Planetary Pursuit Preview
Cache of the Month March 2018
CITO Week
Next Mega Event

Planetary Pursuit Preview

Visit Ground Control to find out more and prepare to lift off on March 19.

Cache of the Month

Go on an adventure deep down an old tunnel in search of Pieter Gysbert van Noodt's secret with this month's Cache of the Month. Governor's Ghost, GC6K78M, is a fun filled multi cache that also has a fantastic story linked to it. Well done to the Cape Town Mega organisers for creating an amazing geocache!

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.

The nominations we have already received this year so far will also be eligible for the next month's award. Nominations for April must be submitted by 20 March for them to be considered.

From May we are moving to some specific criteria for COTM. In line with geocaching taking you to some amazing places, for May please nominate the geocache that you believe has the best view.

Please send your nominations to .

CITO Week

CITO Week is happening from 21-29 April 2018. Time to start planning your local CITO event as it needs to be published by 7 April.

Big Events

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, log your will attend now so we can get this event up to Mega status. At date of publishing we are already up to 189 WILL ATTENDS, so please check your calendar and book the weekend now.

Geocaching Weekends

There are several geocaching weekends coming up. The first, over this weekend of 2 to 4 March is in Port Alfred, GC7H8H2 Annual event @ Medolino.

The next one is over the weekend 13 to 15 April at the Ezemvelo Nature Reserve near Bronkhorstspruit, GC7F4D7 Ezemvelo Nature Reserve - weekend April 2018.

The final weekend event currently scheduled is at the Tswaing Meteor Crater over the weekend 13 to 15 July, GC7H4NP Tswaing Crater Sleepover X, 2018.

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Cache Carnival souvenirs
CITO souvenirs
Mega Survey
Cache of the Month

Cache Carnival Souvenirs

On the 25th March 2019, the next special geocaching event begins, the Cache Carnival. You can earn up to five souvenirs that are inspired by historic carnival locations like New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro by collecting points for attending events, finding geocaches with favourite points or earning favourite points on your own geocaches. Find out more about the details here.

But that's not all. There is a special sixth souvenir available for attending a Creation Celebration event. These are events to celebrate geocache creation and cache owners. Find out how to find a Creation Event or host your own.

Cache In Trash Out Souvenirs

CITO225x225 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 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?

This year, Cache In Trash Out® souvenir moments will extend from just one week, twice a year, to two entire seasons. This year’s CITO dates are:

CITO 2019, Season 1
Friday, March 1 through Friday, May 31, 2019. That includes all of March, April, and May!

CITO 2019, Season 2
Sunday, September 1 through Saturday, November 30, 2019. That includes all of September, October, and November!

To earn the CITO 2019, Season 1 and the CITO 2019, Season 2 souvenirs, all you need to do is attend or host any CITO event during each of the two seasons, but remember you will only earn one souvenir per season.

Mega Planning

Thanks to the one hundred geocachers who have already responded to our survey to help with planning the next Mega. We have extended the closing date for the survey to Wednesday 13 March 2019, so please fill it out if you haven't yet.

Take Mega Survey

Cache of the Month

Geocaching can often bring you to interesting abandoned structures. This month's COTM brings you to one where there is a very unique geocache to be found! Unchained Melody is our March COTM.

GoSA has decided to award each Cache of the Month owner a Jozi Jol wooden trackable geocoin, so congratulations to all our previous COTM winners, and good luck to our future nominees.

April's COTM is for the best camouflaged cache out there. Send us your nominations for the most devilishly well hidden cache you've found! Please email us at to submit your nomination.

Mega Merchandise

The GoSA Store still has some Mega Silver Geocoins for sale, you can place your order online. We also have some stock of geocoins from the previous Mega events available. There is also very limited Jozi Jol Mega 2018 stock left, check the GoSA Store for details of what is left in stock.

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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!

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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Breaking News
Geocaching International Film Festival
Year End Geocaching Events

Breaking News

After a lot of thinking and discussion, it is all things go for hosting Port Elizabeth's biggest event yet! The Port Elizabeth geocaching community is aiming for MEGA status with an event at the end of September 2020.

Find out more here on the Eastern Cape Facebook page.

Geocaching International Film Festival 2019

We are in the middle of the GIFF 2019 souvenir weekends, which is from 7 November to 17 November 2019. We hope you are making a plan to get to watch this year's movies.

YEAR END GEOCACHING EVENTS

There are already many year end events being planned across the country, you can get the details from the Events page on our website.

One event we have to highlight is the Nothing GRANDER than a day on the MEANDER event planned for the 15th December in the Natal Midlands, which sounds like a really exciting full day of geocaching for those of you that are able to join that. We know quite a few of our committee are planning on making it to that, even from Johannesburg.

Cache of the Month

November's Cache of the Month called for general nominations again. We are proud to announce Kitale Close as the COTM this month. A very clever combination of geocaching puzzles and technology earns this unique cache the November award.

Next month we will continue with general nominations so please send your nominations for any cache that you believe deserves the title of Cache of the Month. Please send your nominations to .

Mega Merchandise

The GoSA Store still has some Jozi Jol Mega 2018 Silver Geocoins for sale, you can place your order online. We also have some stock of geocoins from the previous Mega events available. There is also very limited Jozi Jol Mega 2018 stock left, check the GoSA Store for details of what is left in stock.

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KZN MEGA - GC4WN8A

The KZN Mega is almost upon us.

Attending a MEGA event is one of those very rare geocaching events that does not come along often.Be sure to go and register on www.megakzn.co.za as soon as possible. Book yourself at least 1 of 4 South African designed coins. A must have for any African geocacher.

The KZN Mega also offers a rare chance to get 10 ... yes 10, icons on a single day. Some more info on the KZN Facebook page.

One of the cache types will be a 'Lab Cache' and only available for the duration of the MEGA.

SA Geo Stats

Number of active South African Mystery caches per Difficutly/Terrain:

South African Mystery caches with the most Favorite Points:

1.  GC3KM3K  Da Vinci Code                                 Gauteng      40 FPs
2.  GC20XJH  Ipanema                                       Free State   39 FPs
3.  GC2WJ2X  Maps et al                                    Western Cape 36 FPs
4.  GC442JW  TeamDJ's Puzzle Quest #4                      Gauteng      34 FPs
5.  GC3NMFK  Wie-se Clock                                  Gauteng      34 FPs
6.  GC1WBRJ  Longfinger                                    Free State   33 FPs
7.  GC3X44Z  MEGA SA 2012 - The Needle in the Haystack     Gauteng      31 FPs
8.  GC3RQNP  TeamDJ's Puzzle Quest #1                      Gauteng      29 FPs
9.  GC3WZBP  See no Evil, Hear no Evil……..Speak no Evil??  Gauteng      28 FPs
10. GCV8C5   Lost Bomb                                     Gauteng      27 FPs

More info on the South African Geocaching forum

NORTH WEST

Potchefstroom hosted its first set of events on Saturday, 30 August 2014. They were well attended by most of the locals and some out-of-towners. First, was a breakfast social event at the local Mall and second was a CITO at the nearby park on the Mooi River.

Much fun was had chasing some new caches which were published that morning. Hopefully there will be more events in the future, in this great, caching town!

VAAL TRIANGLE

The growing Vaal triangle community will be hosting their 3rd event this coming weekend, Saturday, 6 September 2014.

7 SOUVENIRS OF AUGUST 2014

Did you participate and get all the souvenirs of this challenge?
Are you one of the 67,000 geocaching teams that have completed the Souvenir Challenge? Please let us know via email at: .

EASTERN CAPE

PE will be hosing 2 events in September. The Amazing Iconic Race and a CITO Alien Plants Rock. Both on Wednesday, 24th September.

CONTRIBUTIONS WELCOME

If you would like to share NEWS from your region, or any other geocaching in SA story, please send an email to:
.

Join a Pi Day event near you on the 14th March
Visit the revamped GoSA website
Find out more about the 2016 Mega Event

Fancy some Pi?

March 2015 includes a unique opportunity to attend Pi Day events. Pi (also depicted as π) is the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet, and numerically is a mathematical constant equal to the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, commonly approximated as 3.14159 or 22÷7. Being an irrational number, π cannot be expressed exactly as a common fraction; its decimal representation never ends and it never settles into a permanent repeating pattern.

More accurately, π to 20 decimals is 3.14159265358979323846…

March 14, 2015 at 9:26:53 AM or PM, alternatively written as 3-14-15 9:26:53, has therefore been declared Pi Day, and there are various Pi Day events happening next Saturday morning all around the country.

To find a Pi Day event near to you, visit the Pi Day page on our website.

Also look out for upcoming events to commemorate:

13^th Annual Cache In Trash Out Weekend over April 25 and 26
15 Years of Geocaching on May 3
International Geocaching Day on August 15

We will let you know more as these events are planned

GoSA Website

Speaking of websites, when last did you visit the GoSA website?

We recently completed an upgrade of the GoSA website. The new website includes links to upcoming events, articles about geocaching in South Africa, a FAQ and Glossary to help explain geocaching guidelines and the lingo we use, and links to various useful websites and South African geocaching forums.

If you have any other ideas or comments on the website, know of a geocaching site or geocaching blog that we should add links to, or use other sites to help with your geocaching experience, please share these ideas with our webmasters by sending an email to them at
.

Mega 2016

The 2016 Cape Town Mega planning team has got things under way for a Mega event from 1^st to 2^nd October 2016 in Cape Town. If you are based in Cape Town, they are looking for volunteers to help with Finances and Website Design as well as Promowear, Geocoins, Registration, Tech Talks, Special Events and Hikes, Kiddies Corner, etc...

Follow the Facebook group, SA Geocaching Mega Events for more information.

Your Input

We would love to hear from you in terms of what information you want to see on our website, and what other information we can share with you as a geocaching community.

What information would be useful to include in the GoSA newsletter?

Some ideas we are already considering are any unusual geocaching experiences from both cachers and owners, some of the SA geocaches with the most favourite points, advice on how to solve geocaching puzzles, geocaching diaries, fun and interesting statistics and advice from reviewers.

Please send all your ideas to
.

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Mega Event 2012

GC3B0EJ - MEGA South Africa 2012 was the first Mega event held in South Africa. Hosted in Pretoria, South Africa, from Thursday, 04 October to Sunday, 07 October 2012, it was an opportunity for more than 500 geocachers from all over South Africa, and some from all over the world, to get together and experience the excitement of Africa's first Mega Event.

Read More
Mega Event 2014

The 2nd MEGA in South Africa was MEGA South Africa 2014 - Kwazulu Natal. It was hosted at Giba Gorge, just outside Durban in KwaZulu-Natal from 4 to 6 October 2014.

A great time was had by everyone who attended, from far and near. This Mega's signature was the many sub-events that took place centred around special themes, such as Bunny Chow lunch and Sunrise on the Beach. Many interesting and well prepared caches where hidden at Giba for attendees to find.

This Mega reiterated the fact that a Mega cannot be missed by ANY geocacher.

We hope to see every team at the next Mega Event in South Africa!

Read More
Mega Event 2016

The third South African Mega Event was Cape Town 2016 (GC5YRDE) and took place from 1-2 October 2016 in Cape Town.

Read More

Newsflash - August 2014

MEGA KZN 2014

Early Bird Registration!!

Time is running out!!

Don't miss out on the special EARLY BIRD rates for South Africa's EPIC geocaching event of the year - Mega KZN 2014!!

Early Bird closes on Thursday, 20 August 2014 at midnight. Thereafter, the full price will apply.

If you register NOW before the 20th August, you must pay by the latest 31st August. If your payment has not been received by 31 August, the normal, full price will apply. (In other words, unpaid orders prior to the end of the Early Bird Special will be cancelled and you will need to re-order at the new price.)

REGISTER NOW by clicking on this link: MEGA KZN Registration Page

Please join the MEGA KZN 2014 Facebook Group to keep up to date with all the news:

MEGA KZN 2014 - Facebook Group

Sneak Peak - Video - MEGA KZN 2014

This will be the second MEGA Event that South Africa has ever hosted. Be sure to attend and get your rare MEGA Icon!

Do you have any questions about the MEGA KZN Event? Please send your messages to the Organising Committee at: .

Enter your child in the Mega KZN Colouring In Competition!
Competition closes on Saturday, 30 August 2014

MEGA MEGA MEGA

DON'T DELAY - Log your "Will Attend" today!

Make sure that you don't miss this event: A Mega Event is a MUST attend event. It has its own special icon and has a number of requirements attached to it. Mega Events do not happen often, but thanks to the wonderful geocaching community in South Africa, we will have an annual Mega starting from this year, right through to 2016.

This year's Mega will take place at Giba Gorge, Durban from 4 to 6 October 2014 (during the school holidays), and the next one will take place during 2015 in Cape Town. The Cape Town Mega Planning Committee was established last year and they are working on the details of the event. When the date and venue have been confirmed, we'll update the community. The enthusiastic Port Elizabeth community is organising the Mega in 2016. Planning for the PE Mega is already well under way and the event will take place on 01 May 2016.

Please arrange your holidays and leave to coincide with these important dates - 2014 and 2016 have been confirmed. We'll publish the details for 2015, once we have confirmed both the venue and date for the event in Cape Town.

The Groundspeak requirements for MEGA status, require that we MUST HAVE a minimum of 500 people attending each Mega. Groundspeak also requires indications of the planned attendance prior to awarding MEGA status to the planned event: PLEASE ensure that you log your "Will Attend" to help us to ensure the status of these events. After submitting your log, plan your trip for an unforgettable caching experience!

It is time for the next MEGA in
South Africa!

South Africa hosted its first Mega in October 2012...
The second Mega will be held in Durban from 4 to 6 October 2014 at Giba Gorge.

Please log your "Will Attend" right away!

There is much excitement within the South African geocaching community as the planning for the next Mega is in full swing and all hands are on deck. The Kwazulu-Natal community is excitedly getting ready to host the next major event in any Geocacher's "To Do" list. The Mega is in the initial planning phase and an event listing has been published recently. Groundspeak will only award official Mega status, once the number of "Will Attend" logs has reached 250+.

MEGA Events are very large events filled with activities, caching, workshops, and lots of "kuiering"! The Durban committee will communicate further developments as they unfold, so put the listing on your watchlist. You can also keep up to date through the Facebook Group - Geocaching SA.

We cannot wait to see you there!

Planetary Pursuit

Cache of the Month

Mega Event?

CITO Week

Cache of the Month

Big Event 2018 Update

Seeing in the New Year

Geocaching International Film Festival Winner

GoSA Annual General Meeting

Planetary Pursuit Preview

Cache of the Month

CITO Week

Big Events

Geocaching Weekends

Cache Carnival Souvenirs

Cache In Trash Out Souvenirs

Mega Planning

Cache of the Month

Mega Merchandise

Geocaching in the Media

Cache of the Month

Mega Event?

Ezemvelo Caching Weekend

Breaking News

Geocaching International Film Festival 2019

YEAR END GEOCACHING EVENTS

Cache of the Month

Mega Merchandise

KZN MEGA - GC4WN8A

The KZN Mega is almost upon us.

SA Geo Stats

NORTH WEST

VAAL TRIANGLE

7 SOUVENIRS OF AUGUST 2014

EASTERN CAPE

CONTRIBUTIONS WELCOME

Fancy some Pi?

GoSA Website

Mega 2016

Your Input

MEGA KZN 2014

Early Bird Registration!!

Time is running out!!

REGISTER NOW by clicking on this link: MEGA KZN Registration Page

MEGA MEGA MEGA

It is time for the next MEGA in South Africa!

It is time for the next MEGA in
South Africa!