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?
Panthera03 - Hi, my name is Silvia, and I am a certified geocaching addict!  My geocaching handle/nick/name is Panthera03. I also cache under GEO936, which was a family handle when we started geocaching and our children were babies. Now they are all grown up, have their own handles, and only geocache when it suits them (i.o.w. they are not addicted).
I was born in Johannesburg, grew up in Crowthorne, Midrand and now live in Olivedale, Randburg.
When I'm not geocaching, I am working for a very busy plumbing business and volunteer for the Scout Movement (I do other things, but the list is a bit too long to mention). 
 
GOSA - When and how did you get involved in Geocaching?
Panthera03 - I first heard about geocaching in October 2007, but at that time did not have a GPS unit.  Smartphones were not yet around and nothing much happened.  By December, Father Christmas gave us a Garmin Nuvi.  It took a few months to get really stuck in and on 8 April 2008 - GEO936 registered and started playing the game and on 14 April Panthera03 was registered.
We started off geocaching as GEO936 and armed with printouts of listings, we tackled the geocaches closest to home (as one usually does) which also happened to be the most difficult ones. After a few weeks of persevering, we were able to crack the finals to those caches and we were hooked.
Our first Event was a Flash Mob on 10 May 2008 hosted by Damhuisclan when we got to meet the cachers themselves.  We also learnt the difference between "discovering" and retrieving trackables.  This event was a turning point, as meeting the community made the game so much more interesting.
 
GOSA - What has been your most memorable find/experience while caching?
Panthera03 - There are too many to mention, but I'll share one for each that comes to mind at present.  For GEO936 it was finding the most favourited cache in the world - GC13Y2Y - Lego - einer ist zuviel (it has 11,373 favourite points so far and was hidden on 26 June 2007 with 33,329 finds) in Berlin, Germany. For Panthera03 it was the amazing multi-cache GC17MX1 Bridges & Arches of Central Park, in New York, USA. 
In general, I always have a memorable experience when out caching.  There is always something special whether it is on the journey finding the cache or the actual cache itself. I am always in awe of the amazing little places I am taken to.  I also love the interaction of the community at Events and my favourite way to geocache is with a group of caching friends on a planned geocache trip.
 
GOSA - Can you tell us what it’s like to run your online caching store? How did you get started etc?
Panthera03  - My online store is more like a hobby and I started it back in June 2012 ahead of the planned 1st Mega Event in South Africa.  Prior to that, there were a few "group buys" taking place, but many items required for geocaching came from overseas and it made sense to set up a facility to make it easier to service the community.
At the time of opening my store, it so happened that three other teams saw the same need and four online geocaching stores opened in South Africa!  I enjoy having the store, but I do find it is challenging to keep it in good shape with my paid work and Scouting involvement.
Not many people realise that the margins are very low because of the exchange rate and shipping costs and that is time consuming to manage.  It does not generate much of an income - the sales fund the next purchases and it keeps itself going like that.  I do love knowing that I'm helping newbies to be educated about the game, as we often have long conversations when they purchase from my shop.
Another huge plus is being able to offer premium memberships which can be purchased locally - the community gets a lot of value out of that. I also love getting involved in major events and sponsoring prizes.
 
GOSA - What is your favourite cache type and why?
Panthera03 - That is a very difficult question to answer, as each cache type has its merits and special aspects.  But having said that, I have to say it is the Letterbox type that I love the most.  This is because of the "stamp" that is associated with this type, so the cache will always need to be larger than a micro. There are also fewer letterbox caches around and you need to "work out" the final on-site.  I have always had an interest in stamps, and I have my own Letterbox book which I stamp with the cache's stamp and so have a record of all the Letterbox caches that I have found.  Some stamps I have come across were purchased in a shop, others have been homemade.  The creativity and adventure associated with this type, adds to my enjoyable geocaching experience.
 
GOSA - Please tell us a bit about your GeoArt – how did you come up with the idea, what motivated you to place it, etc?
Panthera03 - I had been wanting to place a GeoArt for some time, but it was always a challenge as to the location. While doing maintenance to one of GEO936's caches in the Chartwell area, I realised there were so many potential hiding spots in the area, and it had a "country" feel. As it is "horse" territory with lots of hiding opportunities, I thought that a horse's head would be cool and appropriate for the area.
I then researched the most popular breeds of horses, for the theme in my listings and that resulted in about 30 different breeds.  I used an outline image of a horse's head and transposed that on a Google Map and plotted the points so that the shape would be recognisable with the number of caches.  I had to limit the total number, as it was a very time-consuming thing to create and ultimately maintain. With a GeoArt, you need to make use of the Mystery/Puzzle cache type, so I decided to keep the puzzles very simple and solvable without taking too much time.
When I placed the caches, I involved a resident in the area, who was also part of the Plot Watch group.  This was invaluable as she was able to point out unsuitable hiding spots and also let the Plot Watch know about the crazy people scratching under rocks and telephone support poles in their area!  Unfortunately, you do need to be a premium member when tackling this GeoArt as I have found that Premium Member caches survive much longer than non-premium.
 
GOSA - Have you set yourself any Geocaching Goals?
Panthera03 - I would love to attend a Giga Event and my ultimate goal is to visit Geocaching HQ in Seattle, USA preferably at the time of their Block Party or International Geocaching Day in August.
 
GOSA - In your opinion what makes a quality cache?
Panthera03 - That's a tricky question, but as you indicated "in MY opinion", I think every cache has an element of quality. The reason I say this, is because the cache encompasses so many things - the container itself, the way it has been hidden, the journey getting there, the experience at the hide, the information shared in the listing, etc. The effort that is put into a hide, can take many forms and it can be a quality cache in more than one way.  I am the type of person who appreciates the little things, so I'm grateful for all sorts of geocaches.
I have had a quality experience at some of the simplest hides, which another cacher may see as not a quality cache. Having said that, there are times when the location of a hide changes drastically over time and in a negative way. This would need to be attended to, so as to avoid a negative experience.
 
GOSA - Do you have any hints and tips you could share with the rest of the caching community?
Panthera03 - I would say that geocachers should familiarise themselves with the rules and guidelines before getting stuck into the game, especially in terms of hiding caches.
Newbies should try to attend events to get advice and assistance form the community, as often that will improve their geocaching experience. I would love to see less judging of geocachers amongst the community - less finger pointing.  Just leave people play the game the way they want to, as long as they are doing so within the rules. Remember, what you may think is a brilliant cache, may not be the same to someone else and that is okay!
Embrace the involvement of others and don't shun new hides because you think they may not be up to scratch - the whole point of the game is to find these hidden treasures.
Encourage and support one another to keep the game alive.  And lastly, spare a thought to our Reviewers - they do so much for the community!

In some recent discussions amongst some of my geocaching friends, we speculated about the merits of geocaching power series.  These discussions made me wonder about the current views in the geocaching community about this element of our beautiful game.
 
According to comments on geocaching forums, a Geocaching Power Series is generally defined “as a string of caches specifically designed to provide lots of smileys in quick time - that's its overarching purpose and anything else is secondary”.  Such a series of geocaches normally has more than 20 caches placed as close as possible to the minimum allowed distance between caches, namely 0.1 mile or 161 metres.
 
The largest geocache power series in South Africa lies between Pretoria and Johannesburg in Gauteng and is known as the Gauteng Power Series (GPS).  It was created in 2011 and originally comprised of 712 geocaches along a winding route starting in Pretoria and ending in the Cradle of Humankind area west of Johannesburg.
 
Many teams and groups of geocachers have over the years enjoyed exhilaration combined with geocaching group spirit in their attempts to find 400 or more geocaches within a 24-hour period.  Scores of others have also from time to time found smaller numbers of geocaches along this trail.
 
However, as the years moved on, the effects of urbanisation and other social developments and changes have caused the areas through which this series meanders to also change.  These changes, combined with the meandering of life for geocachers and geocaching alike, have resulted in portions of the series to be archived. A recent review shows that there are only approximately 385 active caches remaining in the GPS. 
 
At the time that the GPS was built, it sparked quite a bit of debate in the geocaching community; amongst others debate about the question of numbers vs quality in geocaching and the question whether a power series is even a good idea at all.  For a flavour of this debate you are welcome to have a look at the note that I posted on GPS- Stumpy on 3 March 2012. You will also note several other interesting logs on this listing, reflecting the enjoyment that the GPS has generated over the years.
 
In order to determine current views of the community, and more particularly whether there is any interest in the South African geocaching community for the revival of the GPS and the development of other large power series elsewhere in the country, I have put together a short survey. Please take a few moments out of your busy geocaching schedule and answer a few questions about this topic which I find quite intriguing.
 
The survey will be open until 23 August 2020 and I intend to share the outcomes with the geocaching community thereafter.
 
Thank you for your assistance in participating in the survey.