Counting down to 2018 Jolly Jozi Jol, GC7DAJM! Just 27 days to the Geocaching event of the year in Africa.

As mentioned in the August newsletter the organising team started get down to the final planning and nitty gritty of things in earnest towards the hosting of a successful event. We are now in the final throws of completing the details and are looking forward towards a rocking weekend of geocaching and fun.

The event promises to be fun filled with something for every cacher. Dozens of caches are being placed and are almost ready to be published, making for a broad range of cache types, sizes, difficulty and terrain. There are also many other caches in the broader area for people who have travelled far and would like to have a greater caching variety for the week leading up to and following the mega event. If spending the whole day finding as many caches as possible is not your cup of tea, then spend the day at the expansive venue with us. Enjoy various talks, walks, hikes, games, exhibitions, food and drinks, solve some puzzles, and join us for a potjie competition. Visit the adjacent Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens for more caches, and you could be lucky enough to see the black eagles.

With the last events and organizing details being ironed out, we cannot wait to welcome travelers to our province and warmly receive everybody to our venue for the weekend. The ticket entitles you to visit the venue for two days, even though the Mega Event is formally on the Saturday. See you soon!

Stay in touch by following the Jozi Jol Facebook Group and keeping an eye on the page listing.

The GoSA Online Store is open, where you are able to purchase tickets, GeoCoins and merchandise for the Jolly Jozi Jol. For now, all orders will only be available for collection at the Mega Event. Mega Tickets and GeoCoins (whilst there is still stock of the initial batch of GeoCoins) can be pre-ordered and purchased up until 26 September 2018 for collection at the Mega, after that we will close orders on the online store and they will have to be purchased at the Mega Event on the day.
 

Other merchandise like shirts and caps with logos or tracking numbers need to be ordered by Sunday 16 September 2018 for collection at the Mega Event as they are being custom ordered. We will take orders after 16 September for merchandise, but that will need to be collected from GoSA in Johannesburg when it is ready sometime after the Mega, or you will need to pay to have it couriered to you anywhere else in the country.

So get your orders in now if you want to collect your goodies at the Mega.

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 August) will be eligible again. Please send your nominations to .

Geocaching was still in its infancy in South Africa when virtuals could be created from 2000 - 2005. 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.

Fortunately this changed when Geocaching HQ announced Virtual Rewards! For a period of one year from 24 August 2017, some geocachers got the opportunity to place a virtual geocache. Learn more about it here.
  There were 22 virtuals placed across South Africa, with the first being published on 25 August last year and the last popping up on the map on 31 August. See the entire list here.

As of 31 August 2018, there have been a total of 890 finds on these virtuals, with Table Mountain Virtual Reward being found the most - 247 finds! There have been 194 favourite points allocated, with 86% of them earning a favourite or more. Company’s Garden has received the most – 33 favourite points!

Several provinces now have virtuals with Gauteng, Kwazulu Natal and the Eastern Cape joining the Western Cape and Mpumalanga. You will now be able to find a virtual in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Pietermaritzburg, Durban, The Kruger National Park, Pretoria, Johannesburg, Nelspruit and also in the Drakensberg! From camping and picnic spots in South Africa’s largest nature reserve and historical monuments and sights to picturesque lighthouses, we now have a bucketload more virtuals to find. We trust everyone will enjoy finding these new geocaches!

Congratulations to the privileged geocachers selected and thanks very much for taking up the opportunity: BruceTP, Capeccr & Thunder, CapeDoc, Carbon Hunter, Delbadore, DieRooiGevaar, dolos, family Behrens, frequent fly3r, GlobalRat, Henzz, jtomcat16, max beeks, plainoldgraham, rodnjoan, Seekoei – NMB, Team Vella, TeamDJ*, TheToothFairies, Urban Campers. Thanks to USA cacher, sparkey1964 and BellaTerra from Canada for choosing South Africa as the place to place their virtuals.