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  • GoSA Grapevine October 2022

GoSA Grapevine October 2022

GoSA NewLogo Grapevine
 
This month in the Grapevine – An Ezemvelo Adventure, Hedge Mazes and more

From the Desk of the Chairman

Here we are, halfway through the mazes and with the AGM upon us. Those of you wishing to join from far away, you are most welcome to join through Google Meets using our link. Those of you wishing to join physically and who may be keen to meet up at the top of Ponte Tower. Keep your eyes open for an event. The details and all safety concerns will be in the listing (assuming it gets through the review process of course).
 
I'm looking forward to seeing many of you and having fruitful discussions about GoSA and its contributions to geocaching in South Africa.
 
I'd like to conclude by paying tribute to iPajero (25000),The Huskies (13000) and Desertal (3000) who have hit significant milestones in the last month. Thank you for your contributions to Geocaching in South Africa and being tremendous ambassadors for us throughout your travels.
 
I'm looking forward to the AGM on the 15th which we've had to move to 14h00. See you there.
AGM 2022
 
Our Annual General Meeting will be held this month. Please make every effort to attend as we will also be electing a new committee.
 
Date: Saturday 15 October
Time: 14h00 - Please take note of the change in time.
Venue: Ponte Tower, JHB
Event:
 GC80DP8 please log will attends (event starts before AGM, it is not mandatory to attend the event if you want to attend the AGM)
We will also have the option of attending online, please email  if you would like to be sent the link.
 
One of the points on the agenda will be Mega 2024 so please have a think about this so we can have a great discussion about a way forward. Please also email any Agenda points you would like to raise to  by 7 October.   The AGM is open to all geocachers in the community, new and old, from anywhere in the country 😊
Community Contributions
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 August:
 
1,334 Cachers found a total of 6,330 caches during August.
35 Cachers placed 77 new caches during August.
The number of Cachers who found at least 1 SA cache in the previous 12 months is 7,962.
The number of Cachers who placed at least 1 SA cache in the previous 12 months is 194.
The total number of active South African caches at the end of August is 16,348.  




Note: All the above statistics include all South African caches on the geocaching.com database, which doesn’t include Adventure Labs.

Recently the Tribe and associates returned to Ezemvelo Nature Reserve north of Bronkhorstspruit to tidy up the mish mash and green, yellow and sad blue icons. In preparation Orosman had emailed the cache owners requesting permission to replace missing cache containers. It became a maintenance run by proxy. 
 
KrokosZA, CamelZA and Orosman had attended previous Ezemvelo events but not all of them.  IngetjieZA had braved the vast expanses with a Scout muggle weekend, even she was short 60 of the 148 caches. We had a kaleidoscope of found and unfound caches. The Quarter Tribe was joined by Gattomotapi over the recent long weekend which was logged throughout as ET (Ezemvelo Tribe).
 
A couple friends and partners joined for the weekend of fun but opted to showcase the culinary skills over the day long hikes to all corner of the reserve. In all, around to 120 caches were found over a period of 4 days.

Here is a story of what followed:
 


RETURN TO THE SAVANNA
Out in the distant dusty north
There is a field of green and gold
Sprinkled with tragic blue asters
And as yet undiscovered mysteries.
 
Amongst the rocky outcropping dotted in the rolling
grasslands
With its sparsely populated shady stick trees,
The antelope grazed unperturbed
As the vervets ran brazenly amok.
 
All is calm…
 
The Tribe has returned for its annual hunt
To pick the sad blue asters in far off vales
And scythe the green alfalfa along dusty roads
Leaving a trail of golden harvest in their wake.

The pilgrimage was not without its drama
With the intrepid Hog game for all terrain
Who needs the road through
When driving in the long grass will do
A ditch in the pathway
This the Hog found child’s play.
 
Someone even left some mud out to be tried
The Hog’s wallow will not be denied
Axle deep in slushy piggy heaven
Some were in danger of aromatic dutch-oven
The Hog was eventually persuaded
To leave the pit into which he had waded.
It took the help of the local tractor
An aftermath of genuine mud splatter.

Back at base camp
Far from the swine laden damp
The guardians were braaiing up a storm
Top class cheffing was in form
Not to mention the electrifying hot showers
That helped recharge all the geo-powers
 
The local mafia of busy vervets
Kept the Tribe entertained with all their heist antics
All meals had to be protection taxed
Until the vervets kryptonite got discovered
Pitas, bread, oranges, leaks, and even stray kids got attached
Staaldruppels infused into forgotten apple core slices
Led to many distracted vervet moth mouth grimaces.

After four adventurous days
And an Owl reflecting its golden eyes
overlays
A multitude of happy smiling faces
Covering the field and river places
The pattern is finally complete
The weary Ezemvelo Geo-hikers
could take a seat…
 
Watched over by forgotten Fallen Giants
A little brown dimple
With its final deep and simple
In the field of golden barley
 
The Tribe will return
For this final multi-burn.
                                         DietervonFintel 17Aug2022
 
After many dry kilometers of hiking and driving, we got the sea of yellow happy faces but somehow no-one thought to investigate the distant multi on the way into Ezemvelo. The final co-ordinates give us reason for another camping trip to Ezemvelo Nature Reserve.
 
It’s QUIZ TIME!
By Panthera03
 
Congratulations to the winners for the September 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 AND you are subscribed to the GoSA monthly Newsletter.
Each month, 3 lucky winners will be drawn from the hat. Hint: Read the questions carefully ;-).
 
12 entrants were entered into the September Quiz, with no new quizzers.  Please chat to your geo friends and encourage them to enter this Quiz. It costs nothing to enter and it is fun too! The winners for September, are as follows:
 
First Draw:         TheonPlusA – Theon Theron
Second Draw:    Ninja Nano – Cayden Oosthuizen
Third Draw:        Firefly Africa – Jonker Fourie
 
Capri Cache Store will be in touch with each of you to get your prize delivered.
 
Answers to September’s Quiz
  1. How many people are required to have attended an event to give it GIGA status?  5000+
  2. When (DD Month YYYY) was the Mega Event ICON released? 26 May 2006
  3. Where did the first Mega Event (outside of the USA) take place? The Netherlands, 14 April 2007
  4. What is the team name, that has found the most geocaches in the world, to date? mondou2  (I also accepted Almogul (formerly Team Alamo), as they were always #1 in the past, but moudou2 has since taken over)
  5. What is a Geocaching HQ Lackey? A "Geocaching Lackey" is a term sometimes used to refer to the employees and founders of Geocaching.com.
QUIZ TIME – OCTOBER 2022
1. What is the minimum distance (in meters) allowed between geocaches?
2. What was Groundspeak originally called, back in late 2000?
3. True or False - There is a Webcam cache in Antarctica
4. In which year was the word "geocache" added to the Scrabble dictionary?
5. What other name is the Geocaching Headquarters affectionately known as? – Hint: Signal
 
We look forward to receiving your entries for the October 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!
New Souvenir: Signals Labyrinth # 4 - Hedge Maze


A quick summary of how this souvenir series works:
  • A total of twelve souvenirs over 6 labyrinths are up for grabs from 4 April 2022 – 3 April 2023.
  • Earn leader board points over a two-month period to qualify for two new souvenirs per two-month period.
  • Escape all 6 labyrinths, earn all twelve souvenirs and you will also earn a meta souvenir.
  • Earn 50 points for the first souvenir and 500 points for the second souvenir in each labyrinth.
  • There will be a mystery item in each labyrinth that if found will earn you bonus points.
In Labyrinth 4 we need to help Signal escape the Hedge Maze. Keep a lookout for the friendly, grazing goats as you navigate through the maze as they are our mystery item and will award you extra points.  We have from 3 October to 4 December to make our way toward the light and out of the maze.

New Souvenir: International Earth Cache Day
 
Earth caches are a great way for us to learn about Mother Earth! If you have never attempted an Earth Cache before we challenge you to get out and find one this IECD. As a bonus you will earn a souvenir for finding and logging any EC on 8 or 9 October this year. Please remember to always send your answers for the EC to the CO – even if you are not sure what the correct answer is give it your best try!
Current Souvenirs
 
Souvenirs are virtual pieces of art that you can earn, discover, and display on your profile page. They are associated with a particular location, task, find or event and may also be bound by time.
 
The souvenirs that are currently up for grabs are listed below: 
  • Community Celebration – 2 May 2020 to 21 December 2022
  • GC8NEAT, Locationless Cache – 6 February to 31 December 2022 (special cache type)
  • Perserverance Rover on Mars TB – no end date announced
  • The Hider – 1 March 2022 to 31 December 2022
  • GC9FAVE, Locationless Cache – 17 August 2022 to 31 December 2023 (special cache type)
  • Signal’s Labyrinth #4: Hedge Maze – 3 October 2022 to 4 December 2022
  • International Earth Cache Day – 8 & 9 October 2022
  • CITO Season 2 – 1 September to 30 November 2022
 

They are your local go-to people, so keep their details for future reference
 
Eastern Cape FireflyAfrica 
(Jonker Fourie)
 
(082) 889 2459
Free State Uncle Chem 
(Richard Chemaly)

(072) 431 7131
Gauteng Leon St
(Leon Stoop)

(071) 330 8435
KwaZulu-Natal M²C²D
(Mark & Ceinwen Oosthuizen)

Mark: (083) 324 6176
Ceinwen: (083) 324 2167
Limpopo Boats007
(Willem Botha)

(082) 463 3700
Mpumalanga Bouts777
(Gerhard Botha)

(082) 876 3572
North West Team Tip Top 
(Hansie & Zaneta Van Huyssteen)
 Hansie: (082) 753 8082
Zaneta: (083) 258 5926
Western Cape and Northern Cape SKATTIE@1<br< a=""> />(Elize Louw)</br<>
(074) 138 6360
 
Found an awesome cache? Have some tips to share? Been on a cool geocaching adventure lately? Exciting events happening in your geocaching community? Taken a great photo? We would love to hear all about it! 

Please email our newsletter editor at  
 

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 newsletter writers.

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Last Updated: 13 February 2023
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