Geocaching Safety in South Africa

How can we as South Africans make our Geocaching activity safer and more pleasurable? Read on, here we give some important tips and information which goes a long way to avoid those unnecessary trips to the ER, and advice on how to set up your ICE (In Case of Emergency) contacts.

Like most outdoor activities, Geocaching carries an amount of risk. You will often see on cache pages that there may be some risk involved in doing this cache and that you do so at your own risk etc. There are numerous aspects which come in to play such as activity levels, your own health status and especially where you will be caching. It is this last aspect in South Africa that is especially important as we have certain challenges that other countries do not have, they have their own again such as snow storms etc. Our challenges in South Africa include our lovely but sometimes dangerous African sun, dangerous animals, dangerous unmarked areas and lastly but not least our crime rate.

That said, we thought it pertinent to recommend the following tips for when you go Geocaching, all as a helpful tool to make your experience safer and more pleasurable. Just in the last two weeks we have heard of a group of geocachers who were attacked by bees and another that encountered a particularly harsh weed that resulted in a prompt roadside haircut by her husband!

So here is a list of things one could do to ensure your experience is reflected in a smiley and not in the newspapers (as fun as that may sound!).

Make sure someone knows where you are going and when you should be back, especially if caching alone. If caching in a group, make sure the group knows how and where to get to your emergency information. This is often saved as an ICE contact on your phone which can also be accessed if your phone is locked. See this write-up in PCMagazine on how this is possible. Another option is an app such as “medical ID” which is also available if your phone is locked carrying important information about you.

1. Be aware of where you are going to regarding any risks in that area. Read the previous logs! Google about what to expect there. There is lots of information on the Internet. Make use of it. Ask your friends that may have been there.
2. Check your equipment and have backup if necessary. There is nothing like stopping at a great night-cache and your batteries for your torch are dead!
3. Always have a backup plan and that includes how to get back to your car and under what circumstances. If you lose your geo-partner for example, what is the plan?
4. Take lots of water and sun cream! You should also take whatever meds you may be dependent on; for example bees are a reality, if you are allergic, take your allergy medication with. You may think Faerie Glen Nature reserve is just an hour’s walk but if you are setting off at 11 am that hour becomes a very long hot walk!
5. Know your limits! Even if you are within metres of that smiley but unsure whether you can make it, rather withdraw and re-plan.
6. Be aware of ticks! These blighters are all over so have someone check you out for ticks when you are back at home.
7. Have a daypack in which you carry your most important goodies such as a pen-knife, basic first-aid kit, gloves, something warm etc. Our summers are warm but nights can be cool, and if you are lost or stuck somewhere, you may need something warm. Also carry a sturdy walking stick. Unlike in New Zealand where most of the forest walks are smooth going, in South Africa they are not, and a twisted ankle is no fun!
8. Be aware of the local inhabitants and possible no-gooders! Some people sleep in the strangest of places. See the cut-out below and keep that handy if you run into any trouble. Respect the law and if any law-enforcer warns you against entering an area, heed to it. That smiley is just not worth it!
9. Lastly but not least ensure you have a decent communication plan, yes, take those walkie talkies, you’ve been itching to play with them, now’s your chance!

The end of a major run

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: 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.