This month in the Grapevine – Stats, Winners & New Labyrinths…...

Indeed, Signal may be out of the woods for the first time and now soon to be stuck in a new one. Getting him out has been fun but I’ve been reminded of something else that was pretty fun. A few years back, I was a caching in a new area and found a particular player’s cache. What followed was a wonderfully helpful and friendly chat. Turns out, this dude is a reviewer and has been making such calls driving the hype behind geocaching with many people. I’ve even since attended a number of his events. Special mention must also be made of a famous annually presented artichoke dip.

 
Since then, I’ve developed my own welcoming message to any new name that pops on my owner’s dashboard. If you could chalk your mind back to your first few caches, knowing what you know now, any advice on making my welcome to geocaching template more, erm, welcoming, would be uhm, welcome. I’ll add my template at the end of this message but before we get there, there is something I want to mention about this particular reviewer.
 
I’ve never liked singling out any particular person because we all make a contribution in some way, shape or form. In Africa we have a team of some four reviewers, and we appreciate each of them, so singling out just one may seem awkward but sometimes the event calls for it.
 
So, Bruce, congratulations on 10 years of reviewing! Some cachers from around the country wanted to say thank you and we put it in a video. Of course, there are more cachers than one video can handle but I’m so excited to see cachers from all over the country come out to make this happen so which is an amazing indicator of the strength of our community.
 
To keep this community growing from strength to strength, I’d like to ask you to consider my welcome to geocaching message to new cachers showing up on logs and offer any thoughts you may have, or at the very least, consider copying it:
 

SA Geocaching Stats
By Adventure_T and Danie Viljoen

Because sometimes, for some people, it is about the numbers… Here is a summary of the South African Geocaching activity for April:
 
1,558 Cachers found a total of 6,706 caches during April.
 
41 Cachers placed 75 new caches during April.
 
The number of Cachers who found at least 1 SA cache in the previous 12 months is 7,092.
 
The number of Cachers who placed at least 1 SA cache in the previous 12 months is 195. Interesting to note is that only 3% of all the Cachers who had been active during the last 12 months have placed a cache.
 
The total number of active South African caches at the end of April is 16,403.
 

It’s QUIZ TIME!
By Panthera03
 

Congratulations to the winners for the May 2022 Quiz from Capri Cache Store!  If you don't enter, you don't have a chance.  If you have entered and have not been lucky as yet, keep trying!  You can enter every month, as long as you only submit one entry for the month. Each month, 3 lucky winners will be drawn from the hat. Hint: Read the questions carefully ;-).
 
13 entries were received for the May Quiz, with another three new first-timer teams entered, and the rest of the teams being regulars.  Surprisingly and totally fairly, two of the winners had entered for the first time in the May quiz - very lucky folks, they should consider entering the Lotto! The winners for May, are as follows:
 
First Draw:         MichieEtAl - Michelle van der Berg
Second Draw:    HERMSCHLE - Hermann Schlenk
Third Draw:        Ninja Nano - Cayden Oosthuizen

Capri Cache Store will be in touch with each of you to get your prize delivered. Please be patient with prize delivery - things may be slow but you will get your prize eventually!
 
The correct answers for the May Quiz were:
1.What does the acronym “OPOR” stand for? Obvious Pile Of Rocks

2.Which geocaching related item (not the geocache) can be found inside the International Space Station? A Travel Bug or Trackable

3.What is the GC Code for the geocache on board the International Space Station? GC1BE91

4.Which team produced the first non-South African commissioned geocoin in 2006? Myth

5. In which year was the original idea of the WWFM established? 2007
 

We look forward to receiving your entries for the June Quiz! Please follow all the steps below to participate and please encourage any of your geocaching friends who are not on the GoSA Grapevine mailing list to sign up so that they too
can enter the competition.
 
Please use the following link to subscribe: https://www.geocachingsa.com/index.php/newsletter/subscribe You will need to leave both boxes (General Geocachers of SA and Mega Event News) ticked, in order for the subscription to be valid. Please also check your spam folder for the verification email. Good Luck!

Senior Scout Adventure – Cederberg
By tomtwogates
 

The Senior Scout adventure going biennially since 1969 is, after the covid break, being held once again in the Cederberg Mountains from 15 to 23 December this year.
 
This year again, they will be running a geocaching base and are looking for some folk to run the base.  It will probably suit cachers in the Western Cape or those who might be in the Western Cape over that period. 
 
Scouting background will be useful, but not necessary. Information about this year’s Adventure can be found on the website.

These are your local go-to people, so keep their details handy for future reference