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. On occasion, Geocaching HQ will issue new virtuals to be placed.

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 resulted in 55 new virtuals less than a month after the Virtual rewards were given! You can add another 16 to the number through Virtual Rewards 3.0 and thus far an additional 6 from Virtual Rewards 4.0.

We now have 116 virtuals in South Africa and 1 in Lesotho.

Virtual Reward 3.0: Virtuals created 2022 - 2023 

Virtual Reward 4.0: Virtuals created 2024

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