Did you know that Geocaching HQ has a regular series of podcasts where they discuss all sorts of geocaching topics?

See all the links below:

Episode 1 - Nate Irish on the Geocaching apps and Geocaching.com

Episode 2 - Souvenirs, APE cache rediscovery

Episode 3 - Geocaching app & retirement of Classic app

Episode 4 - Logging Changes, Send to Garmin

Episode 5 - Questions from geocaching podcasters and bloggers

Episode 6 - New Dashboard, Project-GC and Mary Hyde

Episode 7 - Introducing Virtual Rewards

Episode 8 - What's it like to be a reviewer?

Episode 9 - GIFF

Episode 10 - Shop Geocaching

Episode 11 - The Magic of trackable promotions

Episode 12 - Sean Boots

Episode 13 - Earthcaches

Episode 14 - Geocaching app updates

Episode 15 - GeoTours

Episode 16 - Community Engagement Team

Episode 17 - Geocaching app update

Episode 18 - Geocaching Map/Search, Adventure Lab app, plus nostalgia!

Episode 19 - Trackables, API partners, photography and more with Annie Love

Episode 20 - "Love Big" Trackable promotion

Episode 21 - Careers at Geocaching HQ

Episode 22 - Adventure Lab app, new Search Map

Episode 23 - Cache Carnival recap, AR caches

Episode 24 - Virtual Rewards 2.0

Episode 25 - Jeremy Irish, Geocaching HQ co-founder

Episode 26 - Mystery at the Museum, 20th anniversary, and more!

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This article is to remember those cachers who have passed away doing this great hobby / game / sport we play.

Team name: hosta Name: Stan Life: ? to 2011 Geocaching: 2001 to 2011	Hosta was one of the very first South African geocachers, and hailed from Piet Retief in Mpumalanga. He was an avid nature lover and cyclist. Geocaching.com profile for hosta Please assist in filling in details
Team name: veer-ini-hoed Name: Barbara Oberholzer Life: ? to 2011 Geocaching: 2009 to 2011	Barbara was a lady full of life. Extracted from the geocache listing below: Veer-ini-hoed (Barbara Oberholzer) suffered from Lymphoma Cancer for many years and passed away in 2011. Barbara did not allow life to get the better of her. Phenomenal lady with the spirit of an angel. Barbara was introduced to geocaching by Fanie and Annette Heymans, she then decided to place a geocache on every circle in Welkom before her life ends, and what an amazing job she has done! May the mark that Barbara left en”circle” us for years to come. Geocaching.com profile for veer-ini-hoed Some more info is available on cache GC26Q53 An article about Barbara (Second last paragraph she talks about geocaching)
Team name: MadSons Name: Neil Madsen-Leibold Life: 1964 to 2012 Geocaching: 2010 to 2012	Neil had a great passion for life and everything he did ... both in work to play. Neil was the first chairperson of GoSA, and he was instrumental in the planning and realisation of the GPS Power series in Gauteng. He was also involved in the first-ever South African MEGA Event planning held in Pretoria in 2012. Neil also placed a few very clever caches. He was a famous FTF hunter in the Gauteng area. Geocaching.com profile for MadSons Some more info is available on cache GC3HZTN
Team name: BAKGAT Name: Life: ? to 2013 Geocaching: 2009 to 2013	Geocaching.com profile for BAKGAT Please assist in filling in details
Team name: Colinbo Name: Colin Bonham Life: 1946 to 2014 Geocaching: 2003 to 2014	Colin had an avid interest in orienteering, and it was through that sport that he was introduced to geocaching. Geocaching.com profile for Colinbo Please assist in filling in some details
Team name: TechnoNut Name:  Peter Tiedt Life: 1946 to 2017 Geocaching: 2014 to 2018	Peter hailed from the Natal coastal area where he was a well known FTF hunter and cache hider. Geocaching.com profile for TechnoNut Please assist in filling in details
Team name: scubie999  Name: Carlo Henrico Life: 1963 to 2018 Geocaching: 2014 to 2018	Carlo hailed from the Pretoria area. Geocaching.com profile for scubie999 Please assist in filling in details

If you know of a cacher not listed here and would like to assist in completing the list, please send an email to with the details and a photo, and we will gladly add him / her to our page of remembrance.

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After the death of a Geocacher that in life had been a member of Groundspeak’s Geocaching website (www.geocaching.com) and who had placed geocaches that are still active at the date of his/her death, the geocaches in question remain active. Without any clear instruction on how these geocaches should be dealt with, it is impossible for Groundspeak or other members of the Geocaching community to appropriately deal with these geocaches except by attrition over time as the geocaches get lost and are archived due to inadequate maintenance leading to the demise of the geocaches in question. This is an unsatisfactory circumstance as it can lead to the problem of geo-litter and/or the sterilisation of viable geocaching hiding spots while a protracted process of natural demise of the geocaches has to play out.

In order to facilitate the addressing of the abovementioned problems, it is suggested that a Geocacher can as a responsible member of the Geocaching community take active steps to prevent the problem from arising. Two such steps are:

1. Providing an instruction to Groundspeak by way of a Reviewers Notice on how to deal with the Geocacher’s active caches upon death. Such a Reviewers Notice is then annotated to the confidential database linked to the Cache Owner’s profile in the Groundspeak website; and/or
2. Providing in a will for the management of geocaches after the death of a Cache Owner.

It is submitted that there are essentially three possible actions that a Cache Owner can direct in these circumstances, namely:

1. Immediate archiving of all active caches upon death; or
2. Adoption of all active caches by a fellow geocacher(s); or
3. Allowing the representatives of Groundspeak, i.e. the volunteer reviewers of the area where the caches are located to take appropriate steps to arrange for the adoption of such caches by willing members of the Geocaching community in the area in question.

The following are example texts of how a geocacher can direct the possible treatment of his/her geocaches by way of a provision in a will and/or a Reviewers Notice. It is important to note that the Adoption of geocaches will be performed subject to the applicable Groundspeak rules and to the extent that certain limitations exist e.g. on the adoption of certain geocache types, such rules will apply and the request by the geocacher in question will not override the Groundspeak rules.

For each of the three possible scenarios the example texts proposed below can be selected depending on what option the geocacher prefers:

Scenario 1:

The Cache Owner wishes all the active geocaches linked to his/her Groundspeak Profile to be archived.

Reviewers Note:

“Dear Reviewer,

I participate in the Geocaching game as a member registered on the Groundspeak website (www.geocaching.com) under the name [insert geocaching handle]. I have created various geocache listings and I am the Cache Owner of these geocaches. I herewith request that at my death any and all of the geocaches of which I am the Cache Owner should be archived forthwith. I herewith expressly authorise the relevant representatives of Groundspeak (including without limitation the volunteer geocache reviewers appointed for the area in which such geocaches are located) or any of Groundspeak’s successors in title to take all such steps that are necessary to give effect to this request that my geocaches should be archived. I also request that as part of the process of the archiving of the geocaches that the applicable Groundspeak Reviewers, with the assistance of the active geocaching community in the area where the caches are located, take reasonable steps to endeavour to remove the physical cache containers so as to ensure that my erstwhile geocaches do not contribute to geo-litter when I am no longer around to perform maintenance on the geocaches that I used to own.”

Provision in a Will:

“Geocaching

In life I participated in the Geocaching game as a member registered on the Groundspeak website (www.geocaching.com) under the name [insert geocaching handle] and as a result I spent countless enjoyable hours geocaching. As part of my participation in this pastime I have hidden various geocaches and created geocaching listings, the details of which are listed on the website in question. I herewith direct that at my death any and all of the geocaches of which I am the Cache Owner should forthwith be archived. I herewith expressly authorise the relevant representatives of Groundspeak (including without limitation the volunteer geocache reviewers appointed for the area in which such geocaches are located) or any of Groundspeak’s successors in title to take all such steps that are necessary to give effect to this wish of mine that my geocaches should be archived. I also direct that as part of the process of the archiving of the geocaches that the applicable Groundspeak Reviewers, with the assistance of the active geocaching community in the area where the caches are located, take reasonable steps to endeavour to remove the physical cache containers so as to ensure that my erstwhile geocaches do not contribute to geo-litter now that I am no longer around to perform maintenance on the geocaches that I used to own in life. Information regarding the current Groundspeak Reviewers appointed for the [insert] area can be obtained from Groundspeak, the contact details of which are available from the aforementioned website.”

Scenario 2

The Cache Owner wishes the active geocaches linked to his/her Groundspeak Profile to be adopted by a nominated Geocacher. This is typically an arrangement which the deceased Geocacher would have agreed with the nominated adopting Geocacher in question. However, the instruction is formulated in such a way that it also caters for the situation where the nominated Geocacher only wishes to adopt certain of the geocaches owned by the deceased Cache Owner.

Reviewers Note:

“Dear Reviewer,

I participate in the Geocaching game as a member registered on the Groundspeak website (www.geocaching.com) under the name [insert geocaching handle]. I have created various geocache listings and I am the Cache Owner of these geocaches. I herewith request that at my death any and all of the geocaches of which I am the Cache Owner should be offered for adoption by [insert full name and surname] who is also a registered member of the Groundspeak website under the name [insert nominated geocaching handle]. In the event that at my death [insert nominated geocaching handle] has pre-deceased me or is no longer registered as a member of the Groundspeak website or is only willing to adopt certain of the geocaches offered to him/her for adoption, then I request that any and all of my geocaches that can for these reasons not be adopted by [insert nominated geocaching handle] be archived forthwith.

In this regard I herewith expressly authorise the relevant representatives of Groundspeak (including without limitation the volunteer geocache reviewers appointed for the area in which such geocaches are located) or any of Groundspeak’s successors in title to take all such steps that are necessary to give effect to the requested adoption of my geocaches by [insert nominated geocaching handle] and/or the archiving of my geocaches in the circumstances indicated above. In the event that any of my geocaches need to be archived as part of executing this wish of mine relating to the handling of my geocaches upon my death, I also direct that as part of the process of the archiving of such geocaches that the applicable Groundspeak Reviewers, with the assistance of the active geocaching community in the area where the caches are located, take reasonable steps to endeavour to remove the affected physical cache containers so as to ensure that my erstwhile geocaches do not contribute to geo-litter now that I am no longer around to perform maintenance on the geocaches that I used to own. Information regarding the current Groundspeak Reviewers appointed for the [insert] area can be obtained from Groundspeak, the contact details of which are available from the aforementioned website.”

Provision in Will:

"Geocaching

In life I participated in the Geocaching game as a member registered on the Groundspeak website (www.geocaching.com) under the name [insert geocaching handle] and as a result I spent countless enjoyable hours geocaching. As part of my participation in this pastime I have hidden various geocaches and created geocaching listings, the details of which are listed on the website in question. I herewith direct that at my death any and all of the geocaches of which I am the Cache Owner should be offered for adoption by my dear geocaching friend [insert full name and surname] who is also a registered member of the Groundspeak website under the name [insert nominated geocaching handle]. In the event that at my death [insert nominated geocaching handle] has pre-deceased me or is no longer registered as a member of the Groundspeak website or is only willing to adopt certain of the geocaches offered to him/her for adoption, then I request that any and all of my geocaches that can for these reasons not be adopted by [insert nominated geocaching handle] be archived forthwith.

In this regard I herewith expressly authorise the relevant representatives of Groundspeak (including without limitation the volunteer geocache reviewers appointed for the area in which such geocaches are located) or any of Groundspeak’s successors in title to take all such steps that are necessary to give effect to the requested adoption of my geocaches by [insert nominated geocaching handle] and/or the archiving of my geocaches in the circumstances indicated above. In the event that any of my geocaches need to be archived as part of executing this determination of the handling of my geocaches upon my death, I also request that as part of the process of the archiving of such geocaches that the applicable Groundspeak Reviewers, with the assistance of the active geocaching community in the area where the caches are located, take reasonable steps to endeavour to remove the affected physical cache containers so as to ensure that my erstwhile geocaches do not contribute to geo-litter when I am no longer around to perform maintenance on the geocaches that I used to own."

Scenario 3

The Cache Owner wishes the active geocaches linked to his/her Groundspeak Profile to be offered by the Groundspeak Reviewers for adoption to active members of the geocaching community and any caches which are not adopted pursuant to such an offer will then be archived. The instruction is formulated in such a way that the Cache Owner can specify a qualifying requirement that adopting Cache Owners have to meet.

Reviewers Note:

“Dear Reviewer,

I participate in the Geocaching game as a member registered on the Groundspeak website (www.geocaching.com) under the name [insert geocaching handle]. I have created various geocache listings and I am the Cache Owner of these geocaches. I herewith request that at my death Groundspeak should offer any and all of the geocaches of which I am the Cache Owner at the time of my death for adoption to active members of the geocaching community who are registered members of the Groundspeak website www.geocaching.com provided that such geocacher(s) have at least [insert number] geocache finds and [insert number] active geocache hides. Any and all geocaches of which I am Cache Owner at the time of my death that Groundspeak does not succeed in arranging the adoption of within a reasonable time of my death, should be forthwith archived by Groundspeak.

In this regard I herewith expressly authorise the relevant representatives of Groundspeak (including without limitation the volunteer geocache reviewers appointed for the area in which such geocaches are located) or any of Groundspeak’s successors in title to take all such steps that are necessary to give effect to the requested adoption of my geocaches and/or the archiving of my geocaches in the circumstances indicated above. In the event that any of my geocaches need to be archived as part of executing this wish of mine relating to the handling of my geocaches upon my death, I also request that as part of the process of the archiving of such geocaches that the applicable Groundspeak Reviewers, with the assistance of the active geocaching community in the area where the caches are located, take reasonable steps to endeavour to remove the affected physical cache containers so as to ensure that my erstwhile geocaches do not contribute to geo-litter when I am no longer around to perform maintenance on the geocaches that I used to own.”

Provision in Will:

"Geocaching

In life I participated in the Geocaching game as a member registered on the Groundspeak website (www.geocaching.com) under the name [insert geocaching handle] and as a result I spent countless enjoyable hours geocaching. As part of my participation in this pastime I have hidden various geocaches and created geocaching listings, the details of which are listed on the website in question. I herewith direct that at my death Groundspeak should offer any and all of the geocaches of which I was the Cache Owner at the time of my death for adoption to active members of the geocaching community who are registered members of the Groundspeak website (www.geocaching.com) provided that such geocacher(s) have at least [insert number] geocache finds and [insert number] active geocache hides. Any and all geocaches of which I was Cache Owner at the time of my death that Groundspeak does not succeed in arranging the adoption of within a reasonable time of my death, should be forthwith archived by Groundspeak.

In this regard I herewith expressly authorise the relevant representatives of Groundspeak (including without limitation the volunteer geocache reviewers appointed for the area in which such geocaches are located) or any of Groundspeak’s successors in title to take all such steps that are necessary to give effect to the requested adoption of my geocaches and/or the archiving of my geocaches in the circumstances indicated above. In the event that any of my geocaches need to be archived as part of executing this determination of the handling of my geocaches upon my death, I also direct that as part of the process of the archiving of such geocaches that the applicable Groundspeak Reviewers, with the assistance of the active geocaching community in the area where the caches are located, take reasonable steps to endeavour to remove the affected physical cache containers so as to ensure that my erstwhile geocaches do not contribute to geo-litter now that I am no longer around to perform maintenance on the geocaches that I used to own."

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Virtuals are a special geocache type where there is no physical container hidden and they are more about discovering a location rather than a container. This cache type was grandfathered in 2005 and no new virtuals could be created since then.  On 24 August 2017, Geocaching HQ announced Virtual Rewards 1.0 where approximately 4000 geocachers had been selected and given the opportunity to create a new virtual cache.  Read about it on the blog and listen to the podcast here. In May 2019, Geocaching HQ announced another opportunity for new virtuals to be placed - called Virtual Rewards 2.0.

South Africa was home to very few virtuals and before August 2017, there were only 7 in the country with 1 in Nelspruit and the others in Cape Town.

Geocaching was still in its infancy in South Africa when virtuals could be created and there were only 14 virtuals created and published with 7 subsequently being archived over the years. Interestingly, 13 of the virtuals were placed in the Western Cape with no other provinces besides Mpumalanga having ever had a virtual geocache.

During Virtual Rewards 1.0, 22 new virtuals were placed in South Africa. Eight in Cape Town, three in Port Elizabeth, one in Pietermaritzburg, one in Durban, three in the Kruger National Park, two in Pretoria, three in Johannesburg and one in the Drakensberg. Virtual Rewards 2.0 has resulted in 13 new virtuals less than a month after the Virtual rewards were given!

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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!

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Every month there is a Geocacher of the Month award awarded to an outstanding Geocaching team.  South Africa boasts four awardees:

• February 2013: louwtjievdw (now known as Louwtjie&Vroutjie)
• March 2014: iPajero
• January 2015: family Behrens
• April 2016: Danie Viljoen

Congratulations to all of you and thank you for contributing so much to our community!

If you know a team/geocacher which deserves to be Geocacher of the Month, be sure to nominate them/him/her using this form.

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This website is all about the South African geocaching community.  However, we use the global website geocaching.com as the resource to play the game.

Watch the official "What is Geocaching?" video, it is only 75 seconds long.

If you are new to geocaching, follow these four simple steps to find your first geocache:

1. Create an account

You need to register with geocaching.com, which is where the game is played from all over the world. Click here for a shortcut to the registration page. Once you have registered and set up your account, you are ready to go looking for geocaches.

2. See where the nearby geocaches are

You can do this in two ways.

Firstly, you could search on geocaching.com using their Search Page. Enter your city or province or coordinates and you will get all the nearby geocaches. 

Alternatively, you can use Geocaching's smartphone apps, there is an Android one, an iOS one and a Windows Store one. Simply download the app, make sure it is authorised to use your smartphone's GPS location services, and login using your newly created geocaching.com account. You can then see which geocaches are nearby.

3. Go looking for your first geocache.

When you start geocaching, you should start looking for larger containers that are easier to find, and so you should ideally try look for geocaches that are:
Cache Type: Traditional
Difficulty Rating: 2  or less
Cache Size: Regular or Large
You should also check to see that other geocachers have recently logged finds on the cache page (also called the cache listing). This indicates that the geocache is most likely still in place and findable. Find logs are indicated on the cache page with a smiley face.

Make sure you read all about that geocache, it could tell you more about where it is hidden, and what to expect when you get to the hiding place.

Once you have all the information about the geocache that you want to search for, it is time to go looking for it. Make sure you take a pen or pencil with, you may need it to sign the log.  If you are using a smartphone, you can simply use the app to take you to the hidden location. If you are taking the information off the website, you can input the coordinates which are shown at the top of the page into any GPS device to find your way there.

4. Log your find

After you have found the geocache, you should:
• Sign the logbook in the geocache.
• Trade an item from the cache if you like - just make sure to leave something of equal or greater value in its place.
• Replace the geocache back exactly as you found it, even if you think you see a better spot for it.
• Log your find on geocaching.com and share your experience with everyone. Cache owners like to hear about your experience when you go looking for their geocaches.

Don't worry initially if everything seems very complicated, over time you get the experience to become a more proficient geocacher. To help you out, we have several other resources on this website:
• detailed Glossary explaining all the jargon
• detailed FAQ to learn more about finding and hiding geocaches
• list of other useful online resources
• list of events at which you can meet other geocachers
• list of online groups (mostly facebook based) in which you can interact with other geocachers

HAPPY HUNTING!

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Planning a geocaching vacation/day and want to find one of the oldest geocaches near you?  Be sure to check out the list below and see if it fits in with your plans!

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The ten oldest active geocaches in South Africa were all placed between January and September 2001.

These geocaches all have a special historical significance and should be looked after.  Unfortunately many of the original cache owners are inactive so if you plan on finding these old geocaches, please perform some maintenance should you find them in a bad state.  This will help to keep them in top condition to ensure they are available to find way into the future.  

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Every week since 2010, Groundspeak has selected a special geocache as 'Geocache of the Week'.  Visit the Geocaching blog to see all the active Geocaches of the Week and the most recent awardees here.

There have been seven South African Geocaches of the Week:

19 December 2011 - Table Top Trove
17 September 2012 - Table Mountain Travel Bug Hotel
1 November 2012 - Awaken the Leviathan
20 March 2013 - Antron's Puzzle Box II
30 April 2015 - SS: Lusitania
28 September 2016 - Intersect 2.0
11 November 2016 - Table Mountain Travel Bug Hotel A second time!

It is a huge honour to have a geocache receive this momentous award! Congratulations to Richter family, CapeDoc, paddawan, adilawson, Antron,  BoazRuthFields and family Behrens!

If you know of a geocache which deserves to be Geocache of the Week, be sure to nominate it using this form.

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Geocaching makes it into the media every now and then.

2005:

On October the 20^th 2005 the Top Billing show on SABC 3 aired a show about geocaching. Discombob from Cape Town was interviewed, and the presenters did a multi cache around Cape Town. At the time there were 18,000 active geocaches worldwide, and only 350 active geocaches in South Africa. The final location of the "race" as the presenters did it is still active today

There was a discussion on the South African forum here and here. The video is now available again on YouTube here

2011:

Johannesburg Development agency article - Go get your geocache

2012:

Country Life Magazine article - Geocaching
Mail and Guardian article - Treasure Hunt goes digital
Capetownmagazine.com - Geocaching in the Mother City
Jhb Live article - Treasure Hunting in the City of Gold

2014:

Geocaching was featured on the TV programme Pasella - See the video here

2015:

IOL Article - Geocaching: 21st century treasure hunt
Article in Die Buite Burger newspaper - Reis so soek-soek deur die wêreld
What's On featured an article by Jonker Fourie - Aahhrrrrr... there be treasure
GEO936 was interviewed in July 2015 by Cape Talk, see the article and hear the interview here

2016:

Y Go E-magazine - Why consider geocaching for your next roadtrip
Vrouekeur Magazine article - Page 1, Page 2
Lekkaslaap.co.za - 'n Ware skattejag

2018:

Expresso Breakfast Show on SABC3 features geocaching - Brett Discovers Geocaching
Geoaching article that appeared in the Mango Airlines Juice Magazine October 2018 - Treasure Island

View geocaching.com's news archive here

If you are aware of any other articles or videos not included in this list, please send the details to us. 

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The start of Geocaching in South Africa:

The very first geocache in South Africa was hidden on the 14^th January 2001, 8 months after the 1^st geocache in America, and was hidden by team 'GPSFrodo'. The geocache was called 'GCZA01' (GC163) and was the 163^rd cache worldwide.
This cache was only found once by team 'Jors'. From their log:

Quite a feeling of acomplishment came over me as I saw the stash where it was hidden, the walk was well worth it!
...
I really enjoyed this, and will hide my own one of these other hot! days.
Lets keep this fun thing going!!

It took team 'Jors' another 9 years and 3 months to make good on their promise and placed a cache called 'GCZA01.2' (GC1RNAY) very close to the original first cache as a way to commemorate the first South African placement.
Team 'Jors' also has the very first South African swag item, a watch, as a Travel bug, which can be discovered at certain events.

The 2^nd geocache hidden was 'Sentinel View' (GC185) and hidden on the 18^th January 2001, only 4 days after the first one, and was hidden by 'Prof Charles Merry'. The geocache, or stash as it was known at the time, was first found by team 'netic' on the 3^rd of February 2001. From their log:

After a 40 minute hike we found the cache about 5 meters off the gps spot.
It turned out to be a spectacular view and well worth the walk.

This geocache is still active and still contains the original log book.  It is currently the oldest geocache in South Africa.  
The geocachers of Cape Town organised a 10 year anniversary celebration on the 10^th of January 2011. A video of the event can be seen here on YouTube.

The uptake of Geocaching in South Africa:

Geocaching was slow in taking off with team 'Peter Scholtz' and team 'Chris Smith' (now known as Chrisbloem) planting most of the geocaches around the South African landscape in the first 2 years.

In the 1st year (being 2001) only 72 geocaches were hidden.
The 2nd year saw 84 added and in 2003 there were a total of 250 hidden.
At the beginning of 2005 there were a total of 343 hidden, and then geocaching started taking off as at the end of 2005 there were a total of 703 hidden, almost doubling the cache count.

The perspectives of early geocachers were very different to those starting out now and here are a few examples:

On the forum (here) Brick stated this in January 2008:
"...In Mpumalanga Snowwolf placed a few, and those days 4 caches in an area justified a trip there."

Peter Scholtz's perspective on the game of geocaching here is a very interesting read.

Geocaches hidden over 2002-2018:

Cache count hidden per province:

*Note: This is the hidden count at the end of each two year period. This is NOT the same as the active (to be found) count.

Southern Africa, excluding South Africa, includes the following countries:
Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The first geocache was hidden in Namibia on the 20^th September 2001, by team "aapje" with the cache name "Hiddenvlei" (GC21C1), and found for the 1^st time 6 months later on the 5^th April 2002, by team "Peter Robson".

The next country on the map was Swaziland with Southern Africa's 7^th virtual cache, by team "hosta". It was hidden on 7^th of April 2002 and found for the 1^st time on the 22^nd January 2003, just over 11 months later by team "GPSJane". Team "hosta" has since past away, and most of his caches around the Piet Retief area are now disabled.

For a long time South Africa was just one huge single region on the geocaching.com web site. That all changed around May 2008. Groundspeak added all 9 provinces as a cache placement selection, and the geocaching community, new and seasoned geocachers, all rallied together and added provinces to all their existing geocache descriptions. More than ninety percent of all geocaches were updated within 4 or 5 days.

If memory serves us correctly the reviewers at the time were able to go into the archived geocaches and update those provinces.

Africa and South Africa have had a few reviewers over time.

The first reviewer was erik88l-r (Eric van Dyk from the USA - who is one of the original global reviewers who has been reviewing continuously since 2001) and is an American geocacher who reviewed caches for the African continent. He was often supported by another long time international reviewer – Crow-T-Robot.

Eric came out to South Africa in December 2007 and met the various geocachers in each region on his visit.

Team "Fish Eagle" then took over the role of reviewing caches from March 2008 till February 2011, and gave over the reins to team "ROTSIP" who was soon joined by team "PTE Curb". For a short time team "Ingwe9” also reviewed South African caches.

Another two South African expats are also involved in reviewing – team "Xanthe Terra", based in the UK after relocating from Abu Dhabi, who looks after the Middle East and assists in North Africa, and team "protea sangomas" is a reviewer for Norway.

All EarthCaches were originally reviewed by the Geological Society of America (GSA), but due to team "Carbon Hunter" placing so many earth caches on the African continent, and being in the same line of work, he was offered the position to review earth caches for the Africa and Middle East area. He used the reviewers team name of "geoawareAFR”, and has since taken up the role as a non-EarthCache Reviewer using the name “Africa Rocks".

EarthCaches started rather slowly in South Africa, with the first (GCPX24) being placed at the Vredefort dome in July 2005 by Team Bjbez. After approaching the geological society of South Africa and using the Johannesburg centenary geological trail as a starting point, Carbon Hunter managed to increase the numbers dramatically, mainly in Gauteng, and soon others were popping up all over the place as more geocachers started placing EarthCaches around the country.

By late 2009 there were 100 in South Africa – and now they are reasonably common across all southern Africa countries. The appeal of placing an EarthCache is that once placed and approved there is very little, to almost no maintenance, required.

The EarthCache Masters awards program is also very popular – with many local geocachers qualifying for the top Platinum status. However, with the distinct lack of large numbers compared to Europe and the US in particular – there have been only a handful of local geocachers who have reached the “Mica” Discovery level of 100 EarthCache finds – and the “Garnet” level (250+ EarthCache finds) remains likely to only a small handful of local geocachers – lead by the inimitable team iPajero.

As at August 2017 there are about 27 000 EarthCaches worldwide. There are approximately 380 EarthCaches in South Africa, and this gives local geocachers access to a little under 1½ % of the world's EarthCaches.

More info here about the EarthCache Masters program.

More info here about the EarthCache Discovery Awards (EDA)

Groundspeak released Wherigos in January 2008, and it took only 3 months for the first one to be released in South Africa aptly named "Wherigo Takes Off in SA" (GC1BB15) by team "Gerald".

As at the beginning of 2015 there are more than 20 Wherigos active in South Africa, check them out here.

Lab caches are special caches that are extremely rare, and made as a way for Groundspeak to innovate and test new geocache types. South Africa saw its first set of Lab caches with Southern Africa's 2^nd MEGA event in Durban where there were a total of 10 released. Only attendees at the Mega event could find and log these lab caches.

It took a long time for power trails to take off in South Africa. Team "MadSons" brought the first power trail to fruition by rallying the Pretoria and Johannesburg geocachers together to form a 170 km trail around the Gauteng area.

Power trails were born out of two factors. The first factor is that two geocaches may not (normally) be placed within 0.1 mile, or 161 meters, from each other. The second factor is that there are teams who want to know how many caches they can do within a 24 hour day.

So to complete the GPS (Gauteng Power Series) trail one should start at midnight, cache like crazy for 24 hours and then finish again at midnight. To find all 680 odd geocaches, a cache must be found around every 2 to 3 minutes, depending on what your target is.

There are teams that are against power trails, as they see it as taking away the *family* element from geocaching, and making it more about the numbers. It is one thing to get 1000 finds with 600 odd GPS geocaches. It is another thing to find 1000 geocaches without the GPS series.

To try and complete all 686 GPS trail geocaches within 24 hours one can use the following formula:
24 Hours × 60 minutes per hour = 1440 minutes.
1440 minutes divided by 686 geocaches = 2.01 minutes per geocache.

To achieve the top GSAK badge for "caches in a single day" one only needs to find 400 geocaches.
Working on around a 10% DNF ratio one should plan to look for around 450 geocaches. This means that
450 geocaches in 1440 minutes (24 Hours) means a cache must be found every 3 minutes.

A map of the GPS trail in Gauteng

Geo-Art is the placement of geocaches so that it forms some kind of symbol or picture.  In the urban environment it usually makes use of puzzle caches so that the geocache container does not have to be hidden where the initial coordinates are listed, allowing the owners to fit the pattern into the area, and hide the containers nearby.

The first Geo-Art in South Africa was placed in August 2012 and called 'Our heart is in PE' series, consisting of traditional caches in the flower reserve just outside Port Elizabeth, with the 'Question Mark' following a year later in Pretoria over the Waterkloof Air Force base. A month later in Oct 2013 the 20 caches spelling out the letters 'PE' were added to the South African landscape. Before the year was over the town of Hermanus got its signature added with a whale consisting of 20 caches. It took almost another year before the next item was added, again in PE, with the Love PE series. The geocachers of Pretoria joined forces and about 15 teams brought 86 geocaches to life spelling out the word 'PRETORIA' in March 2014.  KwaZulu-Natal then published their first Geo-Art with the ABC Trail just south east of Pietermaritzburg in February 2015 with the Hill Lighthouse appearing in Port Elizabeth also at that time.  During 2015, the Western Cape also added their Arrow van Parow Geo-Art in February, the Sunningdale Mystery Series in November and the Puzzler's Revenge Geo-Art in December.   January 2016 saw the Orchestra Geo-Art appear over Durban harbour. 2017 welcomed a dodo egg in East London, an anchor in Gordon's Bay and Icons Geoart in PE. 2018 saw plenty of activity: the Horse Geoart, the Kogel Bay Bullet, GEO-EYE, Emoji, Maitland Coast NR, Tswaing 10 Years, Helderberg Grapes, Black Eagle and the Jozi Jol J Geoart popped up on the map.

To see Geo-Art from around the world, visit this Pinterest page.

If you speak to some of the seasoned geocachers you will find out geocaching was quite different in the early days. With only 500 to 700 geocaches available at the end of 2004, some teams would take a drive to another province when two new geocaches were published (find link in forum). If a cache was planted in a park, that was the only cache in that park (and sometimes even in the suburb).

These days it is not uncommon to see 4 or 5 geocaches in the same park if the park is big enough.

In the early days it was mostly 'geeks' and people in the geological industry, who had access to GPS receivers, who played the game. Over time GPS receiver technology has become a lot cheaper and more accessible to the general population. "Paperless caching" was a big term around 2008 as a lot of geocachers would print out the geocache page and then go geocaching. Hints were also manually decoded on the printed out page to find out what the hint was. With the technology becoming more accessible, and put into smartphone the "old" way of geocaching is gone. The numbers in the "old", pre 2008, days was a lot *bigger* then they are today.

In 2006 it was almost unheard of that a team had more than 1 000 finds. In 2010 quite a few teams had broken the 2 000 barrier.

As at April 2018 only 30 South African teams had broken the 4 000 geocache mark. There is one South African team, team "iPajero", who went through the 17 000 mark in 2017. Four South African teams have more than 7 000 finds, being "The Huskies", "quiddle", "Geelvink" and "rodnjoan".

You can see the most prolific South African geocachers at PROJECT-GC

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For the history of the South African geocoins the coins are divided into 2 groups. The first group is coins commissioned by South African geocachers, and the 2^nd group are all other "South African" themed geocoins.

South African commissioned geocoins
The very first geocoin minted by a South African was the geocacher_coza coin minted by team "geocacher_coza", from Vereeniging, in 2005. This was a non trackable coin, but did have a sequential sequence number on each coin. It is estimated that a total of 500 were minted.

Team "Fish Eagle" produced a "Fish Eagle" coin in 2006 which was the first trackable geocoin, and was produced in the Netherlands.

It seems like 2007 was the South African geocoin year as 4 coins were minted by 3 separate teams. Team "NotBlonde" created what is now known as the "South African Big 5" geocoin, and team "CrystalFairy" created two coins. The "Adrenalin" geocoin (first run of 250 coins) and the once off limited edition "CrystalFairy" gold coin produced with permission of Selena Fenich the designer. Only 250 of these coins were made. Team "The Huskies" from Cape Town, also produced a paw print coin in 2007.

In 2008, team "Eragon Saphira" produced the very first South African, designed and minted, geocoin at the Gold Reef City mint. Up to the end of 2014 this is still the only "in South Africa" minted coin. As the facilities at the GRC mint are limited the coin is not as nice as the other coins minted overseas.

2 Years later, 2010 saw the 2^nd run of team "Fish Eagle" coins, as well as team "The Huskies" Soccer World Cup coin.

2011 was the 10 year anniversary of geocaching in South Africa. Team "Cape Doc" designed a lovely South Africa shaped coin with a spinning "zero", in 4 different finishes which was another first for South Africa. The finishes were: Satin Gold, Antique Silver, Antique Gold, and Antique Copper. Team "Urban Campers" closed 2011 with a 50 coin run of a round blue coin bearing their team name.

The only coins created in 2012 was for South Africa's first MEGA event held at the Voortrekker monument in October 2012. There were 6 coins minted for the grand occasion with the following finishes: Antique Silver, Antique Gold, Satin Silver (a limited edition), Satin Gold (a limited edition), Shiny Silver (a limited edition) and Nickel Silver (a limited edition).

The next set of geocoins commissioned by South Africans was for Africa's 2^nd MEGA event held in Kwazulu-Natal in 2014. 4 Coins were minted, 3 being of the same design, with 3 different finishes (Bronze, Silver and Gold), and a 4^th Limited Edition coin with a separate design.

Other South African themed geocoins

In 2006 a geocaching team from the Netherlands (a team called "Myth") visited South Africa, and produced the first non South African commissioned geocoin. In 2007 Groundspeak followed suit and created a coin where Signal the Frog flew over South Africa in a balloon. In 2011 a South African flag micro coin was created. Late in 2011 Travel Bugs were starting to appear with different countries flags on them, and South Africa was one of them.

South African commissioned geocoins

34

#	Coin Info	Icon	Picture
1	Name :  geocacher_coza Year : 2005 Quantity : 500? Commisioned by : geocacher_coza Details : Non trackable	-
2	Name :   2006 Fish Eagle coin - Gold Year : 2006 Quantity : 130 Commisioned by : Fish Eagle Details : Produced in the Netherlands. Tracking code on the back.
3	Name :  2006 Fish Eagle coin - Silver Year : 2006 Quantity : 60 Commisioned by : Fish Eagle Details : Produced in the Netherlands. Tracking code on the back.
4	Name :  2006 Fish Eagle coin - Bronze Year : 2006 Quantity : 60 Commisioned by : Fish Eagle Details : Produced in the Netherlands. Tracking code on the back.
5	Name :  South Africa Big 5 coin Year : 2006 Quantity : 100? Commisioned by : NotBlonde Details : Tracking code on the back.
6	Name :  Adrenaline Geocoin Year : 2007 Quantity : 250 Commisioned by : CrystalFairy Details : Tracking code on the front.
7	Name :  CrystalFairy Geocoin Year : 2007 Quantity : 250 Commisioned by : CrystalFairy Details : Tracking code on the side.
8	Name :  Huskies Paw Geocoin Year : 2007 Quantity : ? Commisioned by : The Huskies Details : Tracking code on the back.
9	Name :  Eragon Saphira Geocoin Year : 2008 Quantity : ? Commisioned by : Eragon Saphira Details : Minted at Gold Reef City. Tracking code on the front.
10	Name :  Soccer Geocoin Year : 2010 Quantity : ? Commisioned by : The Huskies Details : Tracking code on the back.
11	Name :  2010 Fish Eagle coin - Shiny Gold Year : 2010 Quantity : 100 Commisioned by : Fish Eagle Details : Tracking code on the back.
12	Name :  2010 Fish Eagle coin - Shiny Silver Year : 2010 Quantity : 100 Commisioned by : Fish Eagle Details : Tracking code on the back
13	Name :  2010 Fish Eagle coin - Antique Silver Year : 2010 Quantity : 100 Commisioned by : Fish Eagle Details : Tracking code on the back.
14	Name :  2010 Fish Eagle coin - Antique Bronze Year : 2010 Quantity : 100 Commisioned by : Fish Eagle Details : Tracking code on the back.
15	Name :  10 Years Anniversary coin - Satin Gold Year : January 2011 Quantity : 130 Commisioned by : CapeDoc? Details : Tracking code on the back.
16	Name :  10 Years Anniversary coin - Antique Gold Year : January 2011 Quantity : 130 Commisioned by : CapeDoc? Details : Tracking code on the back.
17	Name :  10 Years Anniversary coin - Antique Silver Year : January 2011 Quantity : 130 Commisioned by : CapeDoc? Details : Tracking code on the back.
18	Name :  10 Years Anniversary coin - Antique Copper Year : January 2011 Quantity : 130 Commisioned by : CapeDoc? Details : Tracking code on the back.
19	Name :  Urban Campers coin Year : December 2011 Quantity : 50 Commisioned by : Urban Campers Details : Tracking code on the back.
20	Name :  South Africa MEGA 2012 Geocoin - Antique Gold Year : October 2012 Quantity : 300 Commisioned by : GOSA Details : Tracking code on the back. Limited Edition
21	Name :  South Africa MEGA 2012 Geocoin - Satin Silver Year : October 2012 Quantity : 300 Commisioned by : GOSA Details : Produced in the Netherlands. Tracking code on the back.
22	Name :  South Africa MEGA 2012 Geocoin - Antique Silver Year : October 2012 Quantity : 300 Commisioned by : GOSA Details : Tracking code on the back. Limited Edition
23	Name :  South Africa MEGA 2012 Geocoin - Satin Gold Year : October 2012 Quantity : 50 Commisioned by : GOSA Details : Tracking code on the back Extremely Limited Edition.
24	Name :  South Africa MEGA 2012 Geocoin - Shiny Silver Year : October 2012 Quantity : 50 Commisioned by : GOSA Details : Tracking code on the back. Extremely Limited Edition
25	Name :  South Africa MEGA 2012 Geocoin - Nickel Silver Year : October 2012 Quantity : 50 Commisioned by : GOSA Details : Tracking code on the back. Extremely Limited Edition
26	Name :  Mega KZN 2014 geocoin - Gold Year : October 2014 Quantity : 100 Commisioned by : KZN Geocachers Details : Tracking code on the back. Designed by Luke Comins
27	Name :  Mega KZN 2014 geocoin - Silver Year : October 2014 Quantity : 100 Commisioned by : KZN Geocachers Details :  Tracking code on the back. Designed by Luke Comins
28	Name :  Mega KZN 2014 geocoin - Antique Bronze Year : October 2014 Quantity : 100 Commisioned by : KZN Geocachers Details : Tracking code on the back. Designed by Luke Comins
29	Name :  Mega KZN 2014 geocoin - Limited Edition Year : October 2014 Quantity : 100 Commisioned by : KZN Geocachers Details : Designed by Melissa Tiedt
30	Name :  Bronse Mega South Africa Geocoin 2016 Year : October 2016 Quantity : ? Commisioned by : ? Details : ?
31	Name :  Silver Mega South Africa Geocoin 2016 Year : October 2016 Quantity : ? Commisioned by : ? Details : ?
32	Name :  Gold Mega South Africa Geocoin 2016 Year : October 2016 Quantity : ? Commisioned by : ? Details : ?
33	Name :  Johannesburg 130 Years Geocoin Year : August 2017 Quantity : 130 Commisioned by : ZA Pienaar family and Geo936 Details : Code on the back
34	Name :  (Wooden) Mega Jozi Jol 2018 Year : September 2018 Quantity : 100 Commisioned by : GOSA Details : Wooden coin
35	Name :  Mega Jozi Jol 2018 - Silver Year : September 2018 Quantity : 100 Commisioned by : GOSA Details :  -
36	Name :  Mega Jozi Jol 2018 - Gold Year : September 2018 Quantity : 25 Commisioned by : GOSA Details : -

Other South African themed geocoins

#	Coin Info	Icon	Picture
1	Name :  Team Myth Geocoin Year : 2006 Quantity : ? Commisioned by : Myth Details : -
2	Name :  Signal Geocoin Year : 2007 Quantity : ? Commisioned by : Coin Club Details : ?
3	Name :  SA Flag Travel bug Year : From ? Quantity : Endless Commisioned by : ? Details : Tracking code on the back
4	Name :  South Africa Flag Micro Geocoin Year : May 2011 Quantity : ? Commisioned by : ? Details : Tracking code on the back
5	Name :  Mardi Gras 2015 - Multi Event Geocoin Year : February 2015 Quantity : ? Commisioned by : ? Details : Tracking code on the back. World-wide coin. South African version of the coin has flag colours on the front, and the green and gold colours of our sporting teams on the back.
6	Name :  Ultra Pi Day 2015 Geocoin Year : March 2015 Quantity : ? Commisioned by : ? Details : Tracking code on the back. World-wide coin. South African version of the coin has the sunset colours of a photo taken in the Kruger National Park.
7	Name :  Nelson Mandela - Tata Year : 2015 Quantity : ? Commisioned by : ? Details : Tracking code on the front
8	Name :  Nelson Mandela - Madiba Year : 2015 Quantity : ? Commisioned by : ? Details : Tracking code on the front
9	Name :  Nelson Mandela - Khulu Year : 2015 Quantity : ? Commisioned by : ? Details : Tracking code on the front
10	Name :  Leap into Caching 2016 Multi-Event Geocoin Year : 2016 Quantity : 50 Commisioned by : PTE Curb Details : Tracking code on the front

Other South African non trackable (wooden) geocoins

#	Coin Info	Picture
1	Name :  ? Event : ? Year : ? Quantity : ? Created by : geocacher_coza Details : -
2	Name :  Vaal Triangle Get Together Event : GC4X18P Year : 2014 Quantity : Unknown Created by : geocacher_coza Details : -
3	Name :  Camping Weekend 2017 Event :  GC6ZWE2 Year : 2017 Quantity : 50 Created by : Monti's Adventure Details : Non traceable. Produced here in East London
4	Name :  HallaDita Year : 2018 Quantity : 100 Created by : HallaDita Details : Non traceable. Produced in Czech Republic

If you have any additional coin info please contact us on or post a message on Facebook.

Geocachers tend to make things a little more interesting, and one way to make things interesting it to have a Travel Bug or Geocoin race.

The idea is to release a lot of travel bugs and allow them to hop from cache to cache and then keep track of which one gets the most distance or the most points.

South Africa has hosted many TB races over the past few years.

The 1^st race was hosted by Africard and was won by Whostops.

The 2^nd race was hosted by Globalrat.

The 3^rd race was held in 2007 named "There could only be one", and hosted by QFC and Noddy. The race was won by a TB named "Rupert Rex", and is / was owned by Tricky Vicky.

The 4^th race ..... (is a mystery at this point)

The 5^th race was held in 2009 with the name of "The 2009 Great South African TB Race" and scored by team "cincol", with the web site hosted on sageostats.co.za.

The 6^th race was held in 2011 and focused on photos of the photos of the TBs wherever they went, and was hosted by BruceTP on http://www.pantland.co.za/2011Race/Home.html

The 7^th race was held in 2012 and the kick-off was the 2012 MEGA event. Scoring was done by BruceTP. There were two difference races, and the rules are available on the event page that started the race.

The 8^th race was held in 2014, and only open to people living around the Port Elizabeth area, and was scored by team "Bremar Josrut"