All About The Numbers

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:

CITO Weeks 2017

Film Festival 2017

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

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

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 .
 

Big Blue Switch Souvenir

Three Million!

Film Festival 2017

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

Planetary Pursuit

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.

Cache Carnival Souvenirs

You still have just less than two weeks left to finish the Cache Carnival missions before they end on 14 April.  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 one near you here.

Event Update

Events are a critical part of the geocaching community.  It is where ideas are shared, newbies are introduced to the way that the game works, and many, many new good friends are made.  The stats forum has recently done an analysis of the events across South Africa, which shows that events are growing in popularity.

Last year 318 events were held across the country and events accounted for almost 18% of all caches published in 2018. There are several more interesting stats on how many attend logs are logged and how big events are on the forum page here.

Events range from a weekend camping and caching with fellow geocachers, to weekly coffee or breakfast events for regular groups to just catch up with each other.  If you are looking for an event near you, check out our website for the latest published events.

Cache In Trash Out Souvenirs

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.

Cache of the Month

International Geocaching Day

Mission GC

Mega Update

Only 2 Months to go to Mega 2016 in Cape Town and the  Mega committee has been working hard to ensure everything is running smoothly.

Get the details of their most recent update here. You can also visit their website to buy your tickets for the weekend.

If you want to buy any of the Mega clothing, remember orders close on 31 August.

Follow the Mega Event on social media:

YouTube Channel

GoSA has set up a YouTube channel to share various geocaching related videos. 

The first one we created is an animation of the geocaches hidden across South Africa. 

There are also links to other South African geocaching videos and to Groundspeak educational videos.

Meet your reviewers

Pte Curb, Afrika Rocks and ROTSIP, the three South African reviewers

We are starting our Meet the Reviewers series with Bruce Pantland, who has been a geocacher since May 2008 and a reviewer since April 2012.  Bruce caches under the BruceTP profile, and reviews as Pte Curb.  He started geocaching after being introduced to the game by a colleague, Dakardrix.  Bruce explained to us that he chose his reviewer handle by just reversing his player handle.

When not reviewing, Bruce's day job (and night job too as he pointed out) involves supporting key banking applications to keep the lights on for the customers! Given that he also spends a minimum of 25 hours a week on his volunteer reviewer work, that keeps him pretty busy.  In addition, he is the reviewer liaison for the GoSA committee.

We asked Bruce to share some advice and experience from his reviewing with our readers:
GoSA: What do you enjoy about reviewing?
Pte Curb: Interacting with the folk from around the country as they brainstorm new caches as well as helping newbies get started.

GoSA: What advice do you have for new geocachers?
Pte Curb: Read the guidelines and then read them again before placing your first cache. Also find a few before trying to hide any.

GoSA: What advice do you have for geocachers who have placed a hide and are about to submit their listing?
Pte Curb: Check that everything makes sense - Check your location on Google Earth - Is it where you hid it. If not recheck your coordinates. Patience!! Although we try and get through the queue as quickly as possible at peak time this may take a few days.

GoSA: Why don’t you go for FTF’s?
Pte Curb: I have never been a great FTF hunter, but if there is a traditional which has not been found and I am in the area I shall attempt it. For example Kompasberg remained unfound for over a month and I happened to be hiking in the area and so I went and got the FTF with JPMZA and MeganZA. Mystery caches are something else because we have insider knowledge which gives us an unfair advantage. So as a matter of principle, I would not chase an FTF on a Mystery.

GoSA: Anything else interesting you think our readers would like to know about you?
Pte Curb: I enjoy meeting geocachers at events and finally put names and faces to handles. I really enjoy the social side to geocaching especially the camping weekends away, the PE camp outs and Tswaing Crater events.

International Geocaching Day

Lost Treasure of Mary Hyde

2017 Nelson Mandela Bay Geocaching and PEG Awards (GC75BR4)

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

MEGA MEGA MEGA

Cache of the Month

This month's COTM takes you on a spelunking adventure to a large cave home to plenty of bats. Cave of Bats GC39W3Q highlights this hidden gem in the KZN Midlands. Rumour has it that the tunnels extend for several kilometers and the more intrepid are free to venture further. We wonder what lurks further in the abyss...   

For the next few months the COTM will continue to be general caches with no specific theme. Caches that have been nominated so far this year (from January to April) will be eligible again. Please send your nominations to .

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

Geocaching International Film Festival Winner

GoSA Annual General Meeting

Souvenir Time

Cache of the Month

This month's Cache of the Month award goes to a special Mystery cache part of a new Geoart series - GEO-EYE: E11 - Light at the end of the tunnel. The logs and favourite points clearly show what an enjoyable geocache this is and eye trust it will go onto everyone's bucket list!
 

With January's COTM we will take a look back at 2018. Please nominate any cache published in 2018 that you think deserves the title of COTM. Email your nominations to .

Film Festival Reel

Did you know that some of our PE geocachers made it into the GIFF 2018 recap video?  Spot them at 5:28 in this video on YouTube. If you missed the events held across the country, pull up your armchair, get your popcorn ready, as we have all the movie reels from the last few years' GIFFs available here.

3, 2, 1 Go!
2020 Festivities
Feasting on the Trail

3, 2, 1 Go!

Groundspeak has released a new souvenir challenge for the final countdown to 2020.  All you need to do is find a geocache, or find an Adventure Lab cache, or attend an Event Cache, on each of 6 different days between 11 December 2019 and 1 January 2020.  Find out all the details here.

2020 Festivities

Feasting on the Trail

If you are on the caching trail frequently, it may get quite expensive. Taking into consideration fuel and accommodation, costs can rise up quite swiftly. Factor in food and you may end up forking out enough to make you second guess a trip altogether.

While there’s little you can do about fuel and if you’re camping, it doesn’t really get much cheaper, there are some cheap hacks you can pull off to feed a family of four for under R100.
 
1: Hacked Sandwich

Perfect for when you’re actually on the road and don’t want to stop for lunch, the trick here is to find well priced French bread, which you can usually pick up for 10 bucks a loaf. Depending on the cost of the bread, you can spend the rest of your budget on things to put in the bread

Bread: R9.99
Ham: R24.99
Spread: 12.99
Cheese: R29.99
Total Cost: R77.96
(Special cheat: substituting the ham for cucumber is not only cheaper but, in my opinion, more delicious)

2. Pasta Salad

I always feel like I’m cheating with this one because pasta is so versatile and cheap but hey, we’re on a budget here, cheating isn’t a factor. You can easily get 500g of pasta for 15 bucks if you’re willing to skip the fancy names and bowties and then you’ve got a lot of options in terms of what you put in it. Personally, I like to go with
500g no name macaroni: R10.99
200g olives: R18.99
Green pepper (it’s cheapest): R9.99
Chopped onion: R6.99
Block of feta: R15.99
Cucumber: R9.99
Total Cost: R72.94
(Special cheat: If you have a little extra or you just have the following laying around, smash them together for a delicious dressing: olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper)

3. Breakfast buns

Truth be told, you can do almost anything with bread and if you get yourself a pack of buns, you can work wonders (even better when they’re still stuck together because then you can cut the whole unit open, stuff it and place it in the oven like some sort of makeshift pie).

12 buns: R19.99
Small spread: R12.99
Large eggs: R39.99
Deli ham: R19.99
Total Cost: R92.96
(Special cheat: anything with cheese can be improved exponentially with oregano. Also if you don’t have cholesterol problems…or maybe you have some turmeric…you can splurge on some cheese)

4. Uncle Vanya’s Soup
There is a story Boris tells about Uncle Vanya:

"He not know how to cook very good. Actually he not know how to cook at all.All his life, mama be cook for him but this one day, mama not feeling good. Mama is sick in bed and she say to her only son, “Vanya, you need cook food for me” but you see Vanya not know how to cook anything.

So he go to kitchen, find some beans, throw into pot with some water on top and set to boil.Once water start boiling, Vanya go back and say to mama, “I have made soup” but mama say, “Only beans? No no! That is no real soup”

But Vanya want to help. He go back and he remember, carrot is ready in garden, so he put it inside as well.

Go back to mama but mama say, “No no this is no soup.” Mama been cooking so many years for Vanya, she know exactly what is best but too weak to help.

So he go back, find some potato in house, cut it up and throw it inside…not exactly knowing what he is doing but this time when he return to mama,  she is asleep. Instead of waking her up, he go back. He start adding new components, things he find in garden like onion, fresh peas, bay leaf and salt for taste.

Later mama wake up and realise house is not burned down after all. But instead, nice smell of soup is filling the air. And of course, a big pot of soup as well."

So the moral of the story is that you can put anything in soup, mix it up and it will taste good. I usually go with
1kg frozen veggies: R29.99
Stripped chicken breast: R34.99
2xchicken/veggie stock: R7.99
Chopped onion: R5.99
Crushed garlic clove: R5.99
Diced green pepper: R9.99
Total Cost: R94.94

(Special cheat: Watch this video where Boris explains Uncle Vanya’s soup and also gives other cheap meal tips)

5. Blueberry Banana Pancake
 
 
For those of you looking for something sweet, this makes a satisfying 6 pancakes so if there are two hungry ones in your tribe, they can have extra.
1 cup flour: R4.99
1 cup milk: R7.99
2 tablespoons sugar: incidental but a 250g bag will set you back R6.99
1 teaspoon baking powder: incidental but a 50g bag will set you back R7.99
Pinch of salt: incidental but a 250g bag will set you back R5.99
1 banana: R6.99
½ a cup of blueberries: R29.99
1 egg: incidental but a box of 6 will set you back R13.99
6 teaspoons of baking margarine: You can get a 1kg brick for 29.99
You will need to combine the flower, baking powder, sugar and salt then carefully whisk in the egg and milk. Pour some of the batter onto a heated pan and drop in some blueberries and chopped banana.
Total cost:  R114.91
(although this is based on buying more ingredients than you need given larger packaging sizes so you can make it multiple times which will bring the average price down)

(Special cheat: As with all pancakes…add some syrup, also replacing the margarine with ghee makes a world of difference)

Well there you have 5 meals you can make for the tribe on geocaching adventures under R100 bucks. I am sure you have your own recipes so share them with us on our Facebook page. Looking forward to reading the Geocachers’ Cookbook!
Article submitted by Uncle Chem

The Bay Cache Bash

Cache of the Month

Leap Day Souvenirs

Puzzle Solving

We regularly see fellow geocachers struggling with mystery or puzzle caches.  There are some events coming up in a few of the regions to talk about puzzle solving.  Otherwise, visit our FAQ which has a section dedicated to puzzle solving techniques.

GeoExperiences

The West Coast Geocachers have shared the details of their 2016 New Year event with us, catch up with all the stories shared with us here.

Unique Souvenirs - 2020
Unique Souvenirs - February
Bay Cash Bash

Unique Souvenirs - 2020

Unique Souvenirs - February

Cache of the Month

Happy New Year!

15 Years of Geocaching in SA

Cape Town 2016

The Mega 2016 organisers published their event, GC5YRDE Cape Town 2016 in October last year. It is happening at the Wild Fig in Mowbray on the 1st and 2nd October 2016.

Help the event organisers achieve Mega status by logging your "Will Attend". They have just passed the 500 mark, so hopefully we do have enough geocachers to earn the Mega status.

For the latest news and updates about this exciting event, like their SA Geocaching Events Facebook group or visit www.capetown2016.co.za for more information and to download the full program.

New Look

GoSA has decided to update our look. After much internal debate, we ended up with a logo that we believe does represent both Geocaching and South Africa. We hope you like it, and will be using this on all our digital media going foward.

We have also realised that we need our own Facebook page. Although there is a South African Facebook group, and many regional groups on Facebook, as well as other forums like the Groundspeak forums, these are just being used to communicate between geocachers. We have decided to create a GoSA Facebook page to increase general awareness of GoSA and our website, to promote geocaching in South Africa, and to improve communication within the geocaching community.

Please visit our page to stay in touch, at www.facebook.com/geocachersofsouthafrica/

Looking back at 2017

• The classic app was retired in March with the Geocaching app being the sole Geocaching HQ app going forward.
• Jeremy Irish stepped down as president with Bryan Roth taking the helm.
• The Misson 9: Tunnel of Light Project Ape cache was resurrected
• Logging changes were implemented on the website
• The profile page was updated and the dashboard page received a new interface. This included a new events calendar and an owner maintenance reminder.
• The new cache icons and DNFs were added to the geocaching map and the solved coordinates of mystery geocaches became visible on the map.
• New Virtual geocaches became a reality. 4000 cachers have the opportunity of placing a new virtual cache. See SA’s new virtual caches here.
• A basic mystery cache checker was added to the website. 

Cache of the Month

GoSA Committee Update

Welcome Back
2019 Statistics
2020 Festivities
Meet ChrisDen

Welcome Back

2020 Festivities

Meet ChrisDen

Cache of the Month

Mystery at the Museum

The heist at the Teague-Ulmer Museum remains the biggest jewel theft in history and one of the great unsolved mysteries of the museum world. Many theories have surfaced as to where the stolen jewels have been hidden, but after many years investigators have still not retrieved them. New evidence has recently revealed itself and the authorities need your help to find the stolen jewels.

From July 11 to August 11, collect clues to track down the missing jewels. Once you have found all of the jewels, uncover the combination changed by the thieves to return them safely to the vault!

Watch the video below for some more details, or click here to find out more.

GeoLingo

Cache of the Month

From the Desk of the Chairman

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

• 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

GIFF 2021

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.

Get Outdoors Souvenir

There is a new souvenir up for grabs on Saturday, the 11th of June 2016.

Initially this souvenir was only going to be available to Geocachers in the USA as it is related to a USA initiative called Great Outdoors Month. The Get Outdoors Day souvenir is part of a bigger initiative with the American Recreation Coalition and other US-based outdoor organizations to get more Americans outside during National Get Outdoors Month.

Given the interest expressed by geocachers all over the world in participating in Get Outdoors Day, Groundspeak decided to make the souvenir available to anyone who finds a geocache or attends an event (anywhere in the world!) on June 11, 2016.

Find out more here.

WWFM XIII

World Wide Flash Mob #13 is scheduled for the 4th June 2016.

There are flash mobs organised around the country for this annual event, so keep an eye out for one near you. Find out more.

Film Festival 2016

Remember to submit your film by August 1, 2016 for the chance to have it viewed by a worldwide geocaching audience. 

Find out how to enter.

Get Connected

One of the things that GoSA is trying to do is encourage geocachers to communicate with each other and meet each other.  There are already many regional Facebook groups up and running, and we know geocachers have their own blogs to share their experiences with the wider community . The list we know about is on our website, if you know of any other Facebook groups or blogs, please share them with our webmasters so we can add them to the website.

Canada Day Souvenir

More About The Numbers

How do the numbers of cache types in South Africa compare to the rest of the world?
I compared the numbers of the major cache types in South Africa with their prevalence in the whole world. Based on the total number of active caches in South Africa, the following graph shows the result:

What this means is that we have fewer multi-, letterbox, mystery and Wherigo caches than our total number of active caches would suggest. (A quick remark about Events: This comparison only considered active caches, i.e. future events that have already been published. I suspect this could be seasonal, and that the time of the year counts against us.)

This is compensated for with more than average numbers of event and EarthCaches. EarthCaches especially are almost three times as common here as in the rest of the world.

To get in line with the rest of the world, we need the following changes in cache type numbers:

• 329 more mystery caches
• 63 more multi-caches
• 21 more letterbox caches
• 9 more wherigo caches
• 6 fewer events
• 248 fewer EarthCaches
• 280 fewer traditional caches

• Traditional: GC185 - Sentinel View, in Cape Town. Placed 18 January 2001.
• Virtual cache: GC31AA – food for thought, in Nelspruit. Placed 10 January 2002.
• Multi-cache: GCGYQ4 - Urban Tag #1, in Pretoria. Placed 24 September 2003.
• Mystery: GCH26T - Reporters Riddle – Final, in Roodepoort. Placed 12 October 2003.
• EarthCache: GCPX24 - Vredefort Koepel Earthcache, in Vredefort. Placed 24 July 2005.
• Letterbox: GC12G1D - TBB'nB II, in Nelspruit. Placed 28 April 2007.
• Wherigo: GC1V8KT – Irish Quest, in East London. Placed 29 June 2009.