GoSA Grapevine May 2020 - Corona Caching

Message from our Reviewers
Competition Time
Meet The Huskies

The last few months have radically changed the world that we were used to at the start of 2020. For many of us, the phrase "New Normal" has taken on a life of its own as we get used to only being allowed outside at certain times, wearing masks everywhere we go, and working from home if we are lucky.

Geocaching has not been unscathed during this time, and our favourite hobby has had to take a back seat as the globe grapples with dealing with COVID-19. Our volunteer reviewers have asked us to share their message with you, which you can see later in the newsletter.

We have watched many planned events get cancelled, and were disappointed to announce that The Bay Cache Bash has been pushed out from 2020 to 25 September 2021, but with the current travel restrictions and lockdown levels, the team was left with no choice.

Groundspeak has also pushed out a variety of events and challenges.

Their 20th Anniversary Celebration (GC896PK) has been pushed out to 2021
Community Celebration Events can now be scheduled until December 2021
The Blue Switch Day souvenir is available between 2 May and 31 December 2020
The Memory Lane souvenir challenge will only start 1 June 2020.
The deadlines for publishing both Adventure Lab and Virtual Reward caches have been extended to 31 August and 31 December respectively.

This month we also share an interview with South Africa's second most prolific geocaching team, The Huskies.

We know it isn't easy when you can't go geocaching, and for those of you who were on various streaks this must be exceptionally difficult, but we hope you all stay well and healthy, and use this time to plan some new awesome hides, and solve those annoying puzzles you never got around to figuring out.

Message from our Reviewers

TO THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN GEOCACHING COMMUNITY

As your Volunteer Review team and active geocachers – we trust that you and your families are safe and healthy and assure you that we are just as frustrated with the impact that the COVID-19 virus has had on our daily lives, including geocaching.

We want to reiterate that while geocaching is not specifically mentioned in any national or regional regulations, it is up to each and every one of you geocachers to uphold both the national requirements and stick to the tenants of the Geocaching Creed (see below). We also understand that regulations differ from place to place, and also change reasonably often. We understand that the impact of the COVID-19 virus is likely to be with us for a number of months into the future, and we are committed to getting our pastime back up and running safely and legally as soon as is practically possible.

We ask that you too stick to these guidelines and are mindful of your activities as both hiders and finders and do not create an environment that may cause others to flout the authorities’ requirements in search of a smiley. If you are hiding a cache – we ask that you provide additional information in the “Reviewer Note” upon submission that specifically covers these issues for the next while.

We look forward to your co-operation and are open individually to discuss specific issues you may have on a one on one basis. We look forward to seeing you all in the near future whether on the trail or at a much-missed geocaching event. We remain at your service.

Bruce (PteCurb); Rodney & Joan (ROTSIP); Grant (Afrika Rocks, GeoAwareAFR)

GEOCACHING CREED
When placing or seeking geocaches, I will:

Geocaching.com HQ updates the rules and guidelines regarding COVID-19 on a regular basis. The relevant information can be accessed here.

Meet The Huskies

GOSA - Please tell us a little more about yourself/yourselves, who you are, where you are from and what you do when you are not caching?
The Huskies - We are The Huskies, Marius and Cathy from Somerset West married for 32 years. I am the owner of two businesses for the past 23 years. Cathy used to be a travel agent and now does jewellery. I used to be an accountant. We both love the outdoors and camp a lot. We go to the Kgalagadi every year and every second year to Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia. We don’t do lodging but try to camp off the grid as we are equipped for that. We do some caching on our trip into Africa as well and also invite other cachers with us.

GOSA - When and how did you get involved in Geocaching?
The Huskies - We were into 4x4 every weekend and we participated in a overland challenge. We were on the semi-final stage 2005 in Botswana, Mgadigadi pans and one of the tasks was to find a geocache. I had no idea what geocaching was. Our first cache was a DNF in Kama Rhino. Our 1^st found cache was a virtual called Aardvark (GCGYHZ) on 12 July 2005.

GOSA - What has been your most memorable find?
The Huskies - The cache that stands out the most must be Table Top (Cederberg) (GCZK12). This was the final cache that we had to do to fill our matrix. We were the 4^th team together with CownChicken and Henzz to complete the matrix in South Africa.
We hiked 25km on 23 September 2012 to the cache and the weather made us turn around about 700 meters from the cache. On the 2^nd attempt on 28 October 2012 a 10hr hike and this time we turned the cache into a smiley.
Another cache was our 10 000^th find - Space Invader (Not 24/7. TB Hotel) (GC7QEJJ). It is in an old electronic store and the cache is an electronic space ship dropping down from the roof.

GOSA - Can you tell us about some of the interesting places Geocaching has taken you to?
The Huskies - We have been all over the world with caching. Our latest trip last year was to Finland to see the northern light and slept in the Ice hotel. On that same trip we attended the Hamburg Giga, The Netherlands and Belgium Mega. We have travelled over 530 000km and done over 11 000 caches as the crow flies since 2005.
We did some caching in dungeons beneath the streets of Edinburg, Scotland over Halloween night and found a cache in the graveyard where JK Rowling got the characters names for Harry. We went to all the places where Game of Thrones in Ireland was filmed. Did a cache at The Dark Hedges and the earth cache at Giants Causeway (GC5WBX1)

GOSA - What is your favourite cache type and why?
The Huskies - We both agree that it is the type of cache that takes you to a special place or off the beaten track. I have to admit I do like earth caches which drives Cathy insane. She likes the multi caches which drives me insane, so we compromise and do both.

GOSA - What is your greatest Geo-Achievement?
The Huskies - Just to get out there and enjoy nature. We are not stats driven but do like to get matrix filler caches when we on one of our trips.

GOSA - Are you planning to attend The Bay Cache Bash in September and if so what are you looking forward to most at this event?
The Huskies -Yes, we are planning on attending The Bay Cache Bash when we back from our next trip to the US. We look forward to another big event in South Africa and seeing all the familiar faces and friends we haven’t seen for some time.
(GOSA - note we did this interview before The Bay Cache Bash was postponed)

GOSA - We see from your stats that you’ve had a few months where you had over 400 and even over 600 finds – how did you manage this?
The Huskies - The months with high finds would be when we are abroad doing caching. We did, however do the power trail in Gauteng as a group from Cape Town in September 2013 and found 555 caches in 18 hours. We are going to try and attempt to do more than 1000 caches in 1 day in Nevada in August this year.

GOSA - Do you have any hints and tips you could share with the rest of the caching community?
The Huskies - Enjoy caching … It’s only a game. Play it the way you want and have fun.

Cache of the Month

The COTM for March 2020 was awarded to Eerste Waterval GC29FYX. The cache is situated on a popular hiking trail near Stellenbosch, which features a river and two waterfalls. The cache is hidden at the base of the first waterfall next to a picturesque pool. The container is a decent size with lots of space for Swag - this one is a treasure well worth checking out.

The COTM for April 2020 is Irene Concentration Camp Cemetery (GC7B6N6), a cache by rodnjoan. One of the great joys of Geocaching is the fun you have as a Cache Owner to read an inspired log that shares the enjoyment that the finder had during the search and find of the cache. Even if you are not the CO you can share in this joy as the logs are available for all to read. This month's winner was awarded the prize thanks to the very entertaining log (log part 2) written by Henzz. This is but one of the entertaining logs written by this geocacher over the years.

Sharing our experiences of the game through our logs is one of the fulfilling parts of our wonderful game. Here are two further examples of very entertaining logs for your reading pleasure: Firstly, the muggle log (and muggle log part 2) describing a muggle journalist’s experience at the Sani Pass Event (GC3AYR5) in 2012. Secondly another example of a Henzz log (Henzz log part 2), this log was submitted on the Psalm 119 (GC2Y5F2) cache. We are not suggesting that all logs need to be dissertation length logs, but next time that you find a geocache, consider sharing a bit more of your experience rather than only posting TFTC.

Nominations for COTM May 2020

With the South African lock down now reduced to level 4, we can still only exercise up to 5 km from home and so our geocaching adventures are still extremely limited. Unless you are spending the lock down period in a house with a wonderful sea or mountain view, this lock down is also preventing you from visiting geocaches with such stunning views.

In preparation for the time when we will again be free to roam to our heart's content searching for treasures and adventures we are asking you to nominate the geocache with the most breath taking view for the May Cache of the Month. If possible, also send a photo of the view that triggered your nomination so that we can share in the awesomeness.

Send your nominations to by no later than 27 May 2020.

We are always on the lookout for photos from events or cool caches, as well as any fun, interesting, unusual or exciting geocaching stories to share with the geocaching community. If you want to share yours, send it to us by emailing it to our webmasters.