Good-bye to Chris Booysen, A geocaching adventure and more…
From the Desk of the Chairman
May has been about following up on our survey results in GoSA land, as well as a final push to get to the magical 300 Will Attends for the Bay Cache Bash.
Tragically, we received the news of the passing of one half of ChrisDen, Chris Booysen. Our sympathies go out to Denise and family. I cannot imagine that there are many avid cachers who haven’t come across one of his caches or seen a ChrisDen log. Chris’s contribution to the game holds its own legacy.
What has been promising is seeing some new names on logs. While hunting an elusive mystery cache in Johannesburg last week, a stranger asked me what I was doing. I went with the quick answer of “somewhat of a treasure hunt” and he asked, “is that like that geocaching thing?”. He couldn’t tell me where he had heard about it but he was interested and already looking into it so I’m reading into that that the word is expanding through the zeitgeist. Thanks to all of you who grow the game.
On the subject of growing the game, I took some time out of Bloemfontein in May to work in Gauteng and went for some caches in Midrand. Goodness! There are some fine gadget, puzzle and mystery caches in the area. I cannot express enough how much I appreciate cache owners who take the time to make some incredible caches. I’ve also seen some where parents have been placing caches in honour of their kids. I think that’s awesome and encouraging.
Over the last month I’ve met a few more members of the community and look forward to meeting more. Hopefully when lockdown lifts we’ll be seeing more events and I’m looking forward to attending as many as possible around the country.
Finally, it would be jolly to finally see a South African submission in the Geocaching International Film Festival so if there are any film making enthusiasts out there, please get in touch. I’m pretty certain we can develop an awesome idea if we put our heads together!
Until next time, thank you for all you do to keep this wonderful game thriving!
Tributes to Chris Booysen from team ChrisDen
It was a great shock to hear of Chris’ passing in May. Our sincere condolences go out to Denise and the rest of Chris’ family as well as all his geocaching friends. Thank you to the community for submitting these moving tributes. Chris, you will be missed!
Chris will always go the extra mile to assist where he can. Our friends and community lost a true legend. We will remember Chris as a very humble, dedicated, passionate and efficient man and we are profoundly grateful that our paths crossed eight years ago via Geocaching and he became part of our lives. It was a great privilege to have known him. Thank you, Chris, for great memories. Chris will be deeply missed and well-remembered. Wicus & Ansie aka Wikkelgat
We met Chris and Denise Booysen in February 2015 during a Geocaching camping weekend in the Cockscombe mountains near Uitenhage. Shortly after that, we met again at a Mega Event in the UK which led to a close friendship. We spotted their Geocaching name, ChrisDen, on various log sheets in the UK, Spain and Australia. Chris became our mentor - he answered all our geocaching questions, quickly and thoroughly! ChrisDen earned FTFs on many of our geocaches, including at Sedgefield, Paradise Beach and Jeffreys Bay. We frequently met at various events and recently shared breakfast at the Spur in Jeffreys. Chris was a man with integrity and enthusiasm for life… we will miss him dearly. We want to share our heartfelt condolences with Denise and the rest of the family. Willie & Esta aka Strandlopers w&e
When thinking of Chris, we have to think of him and his beautiful wife and team member, Denise. We as a team only got to know these two beautiful people for the more or less four years after we moved to the Eastern Cape. On our first event that we met them, we noticed they are loved by the caching community, and we can confirm we also learned to just love their company and could not wait for them to arrive at our JBay events. These two always brought a friendly energy to the events and we can truly say they are fun people, with excellent caches. Man could they rush for a first to find, our JBay teams always said, “we must go ChrisDen will be on their way”. Chris will be missed and well-remembered as a friendly, helpful, true gentleman. We were privilege to have known him, and our condolences to his lovely wife Denise. Snotx2
It was through geocaching that our paths crossed with this couple, attending many geocaching camping weekends together where we had the privilege of forging a good relationship. We will remember Chris as a very active and dedicated geocacher not only in Port Elizabeth but all over South Africa attending many events. Chris was also very helpful and always willing to assist any time you needed to PAF even going the extra mile. When asking the best route to get to a cache on a mountain he not only supplied the information but also offered to accompany us demonstrating his willingness to help fellow geocachers. Chris, a true geocaching legend as we knew him, loved life, geocaching, cycling and travel and most of all his family. He will be sorely missed. RIP. iPajero
Chris, you were truly a man among men and a mentor, friend and leader to many of the caching family. Your willingness to always lend a hand or be the “F” on the other end of the “PAF” will always be missed. You were the most humble guy I knew and your words of wisdom or push in the right direction with a puzzle cache was always appreciated. I remember as a very green cacher the times you went to a few caches I was having trouble finding just to make sure it was there so I did not lose hope in the game, then getting a text with “Its there”. The most memorable cache that we did was Smaug, what an adventure we had that day in that drain pipe. In the Pic below Chris named this spot the “Rest station”. Chris, you may be gone but your memories will live with us forever. Till we meet again. Team Blaster88, AKA Ryan, Eloise and Boys
Chris was a legend in the PE Caching community when AnnieAy and I started caching. One of the Gurus, but over time he became so much more. He went from PAF to true friend. We were often rivals for an FTF, many of them by torchlight and he was the “go to guy” when I got stuck on a puzzle. Most of the time he would just say “What do you want me to do - give you the answer??” And he never did, but I leant to solve puzzles. I will always remember the FTF expedition for GC6PG3Z (Secret Chamber) and let’s not forget the +- 30m margin of error rule, but most of all I will remember Chris as my friend “Grumpy” who signed off his logs with a quote by John Wooden - “The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching”. That was Chris. Forever remembered. PiPiBiBi (PiP)
Chris Booysen was like the Godfather of Geocaching in Port Elizabeth. Not the type who would put a hit out on you if you muggled his cache or logged a DNF, but one who you could always turn to for advice or encouragement. Chris (and Denise) attended most events, placed just about all kinds of caches, did some really innovative placements, and always led the way. I was a newbie and met up with a fellow cacher one afternoon after work to do a cache in a park here in PE. As we came walking up the path we spotted a couple standing looking at their phones and as we got closer heard the word "cache". Turned out to be fellow newbies Chris and Denise. That is where I met Chris for the first time. Chris bought me my first Premium Membership as I couldn't afford it and he felt I had a lot to offer the community, he contributed prizes to the NMB Geocaching awards and was always a phone call away for a hint or just a question. Chris is going to be sorely missed by not just the local community but the wider South African Geocaching community. We have truly lost a very special cacher. Firefly Africa
Chris was remarkable. Some of my best caching experiences came from comments/challenges Chris said or implied - he added that "something" special to Geocaching for me...Friday morning at Brioche, "war" for FTF on Spesbona N2 series. I miss our banter about puzzles, interesting/weird logs and of course his opinion/advice on geo-matters. Sekhie
When Facebook suggested a random group for me, I had no idea that joining would be the best decision I ever made. This is where I met Michelle (MichiEtAl) – a fellow speech-language therapist from Cape Town. We connected virtually and decided that I would travel from Howick to Cape Town to meet her in person, but I had one stipulation: we needed to find at least one geocache. She had no idea what that meant but agreed anyway. Little did she know that this agreement was a gateway to many strange shenanigans and amazing adventures. After that first cache find on a beach with a spectacular view of Table Mountain, she was hooked.
Fast forward past many more finds and caching visits (and the collective trauma that was 2020) to April 2021. We both wanted to see each other and both of us needed a holiday, so we decided that we should meet on neutral ground which would allow us both to have a change of scenery, and, of course, a new caching area to explore. In the weeks leading up to our big adventure, we worked out a list of “must-do” caches, which was longer than was realistically possible to achieve. We would connect via video calls on Zoom to solve mysteries together. Things were coming together!
The day finally arrived and I drove Esme, my trusty cachemobile, to O. R. Tambo International Airport to fetch Michelle. We headed towards Rosebank, where we had an event to meet up with some local cachers. We had thought about attempting an adventure lab en route, but there was a large police presence at the first point, which seemed a fitting welcome to Gauteng, but made us abandon the idea.
Our first full day was in Centurion – a place where I had a lot of bittersweet memories. I had spent many days there with my first love and a lot of memories came rushing back while we were driving between various GZs. One large cache was a very obvious wooden guard hut. Imagine my surprise when I realized that this very obvious wooden hut was less than 100m away from the house my ex had lived in, and one I must have walked and driven past hundreds of times when I visited him. It made me realise how unobservant people can be and how some caches really can be hidden in plain sight! (GC2EX44)
The next few days were a blur of activity. We then headed off to Pretoria, which was my home for 6 years while I was studying, and where my parents and I had claimed a few finds together already. Michelle managed to reach find number 200 at one of my favourite places in the city – the Union Buildings. We also discovered that there was a highly-rated gadget cache in the area, so we made our way to GZ. (GC8967Q) At GZ, we immediately spotted it. A menacing black box with a lock, wheels on the front, and bolts all over the place. We prodded and poked, twisted and pulled, and slowly, but surely, we made progress. Someone came over to offer assistance, but when we showed him what we had worked out so far, he told us, “Two seconds and you’ll have it open.” We were stumped. Frustratingly, when he showed us, we realized we were pushing when we should have been pulling, but otherwise, we had solved it. It was a thrill!
Following this, we decided to head over to a D1T5 mystery we had solved coordinates for beforehand (GC6V6XQ). The cache had last been found in 2019, so we weren’t convinced it would still be there, lo and behold, when we arrived at GZ, we spotted the bright red bison tube immediately. Unfortunately, we spotted it high up in the branches of a tree and my little kitchen ladder in the boot wasn’t going to cut it. We decided to check if there were any tool hire places nearby and we found a place just over 2km away that was still open. We rushed over and were disappointed to realise that they didn’t have any long ladders that would fit in my little Ford Figo. We decided at that point to purchase a rope and head back to GZ and see if we could McGuyver a plan. While driving back, a bright orange ladder caught my eye. A tree feller, hoping to get some business from passers-by, was parked on the side of the road, waiting. We drove around the block and Michelle, being a master negotiator, managed to get them to agree to coming with us to collect the cache. In exchange, we would give them The R80 cash we had between us, and the newly-purchased length of rope. Apparently, that was the value of this cache to us! The tree feller and his team were perplexed when they saw what we were asking. They could not quite believe that all these two ladies wanted was to get the tiny red tube, without breaking anything, stamp it, and then return it.
The next day, we headed to Magaliesberg Canopy Tours. On the way, I spotted an old, rusted car on next to a driveway. I told Michelle that it was a travesty that there was no cache there, because it was a perfect spot. After the canopy tour, we looked up which caches were on the way, and it turned out that I was not the only one to think the car was a great spot! (GC467YM)
We then headed off to Johannesburg where we attended a quiz night which we ended up winning, much to our excitement! We spent the next day at the Johannesburg Botanic Gardens, finding some traditionals and completing another adventure lab. It was a glorious autumn day and the perfect day to explore this beautiful spot that I probably wouldn’t have spent much time at without the motivation of geocaching. Despite a couple of missing waypoints (which were solved after a PAF), the adventure lab was fantastic for drawing attention to little things that we probably wouldn’t really have noticed otherwise.
Jo’burg also provided us with an opportunity to use some of the more unique TOTTs we had brought along for the journey. The Bakkie Hakkie we had found for sale in Pretoria came in handy for retrieving a very clever cache hidden with the use of pulleys and gravity (GC44KH1). The hard hats I had bought, just in case, had proven useful too – just not in the way they were intended. One cache was just beyond my reach, and after some head-scratching, I thought that a hard hat was exactly the boost I needed (GC5WT7N). There was one for each foot and bingo! The cache was in hand. The stamps I had bought with our caching handles and adjustable date were also very useful for this trip.
I could wax lyrical about the caches we found – the letterbox hybrid outside a fellow cacher’s house that had their neighbours worried (GC2ABAX); the Discworld-themed cache that brought joy to my Pratchett-obsessed heart (GC4V4A4); the sneaky micro hidden in plain sight at a shopping centre (GC794MY), and so many more, but then this story would be far too long.
Our adventure was near its end and we needed to head to the airport. I managed to get my 600th find on the way, and Michelle reached her 250th find too. We ended our shenanigans at OR Tambo International Airport, but before I left my friend to board her plane, we had one last find to make – at the airport (GC7CH1J).
8 days, 4 provinces, 1873km, 67 caches, 2 adventure labs and 1 quiz night victory… I never would have believed that a chance encounter on social media could have led to such wonderful adventures and memories that will last a lifetime.
*To see more pictures from this adventure on Instagram, check out the hashtag #GeoBeepShenanigansUpNorth
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We live in uncertain times and at the moment it really feels like Benjamin Frankllin's quote from 1789 rings very true. “The Only Two Certainties In Life Are Death And Taxes” Just as we thought things with Covid19 was starting to settle down a third wave appeared on the horizon.
So I am going to give it to you straight today. All of this is making the planning and organising of The Bay Cache Bash very difficult. As we stand right now we are on 220 Will Attend logs, only 9 up from the same time last month. In 2018, 7900 teams found caches in South Africa. If only 25% of those were South Africans, it still means close to 2000 of them are local Saffas. It's very disappointing to see the interest in a Mega event, the first in 3 years, to be so small. I don't know if it is because of a fear to travel due to Covid19, uncertainty if they could travel then due to Covid19, because of economic pressures, the destination, a lack of interest in attending a Mega, or just a decline in the interest in Geocaching.
The problem is that if we don't achieve 300 Will Attends then we can't get Mega status and then I'm sure the majority of those who are planning to travel to PE for a Mega will cancel. That will mean that the organising committee and as an extension, GoSA, will lose a lot of money that needs to be put down for venue and infrastructure deposits and procuring goods (event coins, clothing, memorabilia, goody bag inserts). Not to mention the time and energy that has already gone into the planning and promotion of the event.
The Bay Cache Bash organising committee is a small group of dedicated people who would really like to host the best Mega South Africa has seen, but without the support of the Geocaching community it can't happen. Unfortunately it has become necessary for the organising committee to decide to set a deadline to reach 300 Will Attends. The end of June will leave us only 3 months to organise the event and if we can't reach 300 Will Attends by then a final call will have to be made. So please, if you have logged your will attend, don’t let it go to waste – invite your geocaching friends to log their will attends as well!
Please log your Will Attend today at – The Bay Cache Bash 2021. If you have any enquiries you can send an email to –
GIFF 2021
Just a reminder that the Geocaching International Film Festival is back! Submissions open on 1 June 2021 and close on 5 August 2021. Who is going to take up the challenge and submit a South African entry?
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