A very Happy Mother's Day for the 14th to all the Geocaching Moms!
From the Desk of the Chairman
*Said in my best 2005 ETV voiceover voice* Just when you thought the souvenir challenges couldn’t get any more intense, HQ spins the wheel! Having just returned from Gauteng with 101 finds for the month, I pondered a few things about the challenges and following a discussion on the Whatsapp group, I also reflected on what it may be like to do the challenge in another country - probably where there is a more active caching scene. More particularly, I thought about how the May challenge may really good for us despite some pessimism.
If you’re reading this, you’re probably already hooked on our extreme sport. A couple of DNFs may be upsetting but probably not off-putting. In other words, you will understand the joy of finding a pill container with a magnet attached stuck to the bottom horizontal to the right of the fat one. You’re probably even imagining it now. To the uninitiated, the appeal of that same find is somewhat confusing; is this supposed to be fun, do I win anything, do I take it with me, why are there so many blackjacks? They just don’t get it and can you really blame them? When you think to the caches that really drew you into the game…not necessarily your first…but the ones when you realized the potential of the game…I’m willing to bet that they were at least more elaborate than a pill container traditional.
Looking at some issues of caching in South Africa, a common thread is that there are fewer players evolving from discovering the game and finding 10 caches on a weekend to discovering the 10 caches on a weekend then getting 100 caches during the rest of the year. Perhaps it’s a matter of the novelty wearing off or perhaps it’s a matter of low maintenance putting them off after a DNF. With awesome well placed and elaborate caches though, those things are less likely.
So, here’s my invitation to you to join this plan to get the May souvenir; make and place four awesome caches, get 5 FPs on each and get your souvenir. Not so long ago, Premium account members got gifted 10 FPs to allocate and we hardly use the ones we get anyway so this month be mindful of handing out an FP to a cache you enjoyed.
Perhaps this way, we’ll get and keep more people in the game and think of all the FTFs at the same time.
Oh and happy Blue Switch Day. Thanks to all who took up the call to host an event in different provinces. Looking forward to reading the logs.
Now back to my YouTube videos of cache building tutorials.
Cache of the Month
To summarise how COTM will work: This month we will have community voting for a winner from the caches that were nominated last month. We will also be nominating caches for this month for COTM. Lastly, we will be announcing the COTM winner from 2 months back.
We have two competitions running – 1) nominate a cache for the current months COTM and you will go into a draw for a prize from GoSA 2) vote for a winner from last months COTM nominations and you will go into a draw for a prize from GoSA. The nomination competition will close in December 2023 and the voting competition will close in January 2024.
The theme for April COTM nominations was the nest CITO that you've attended. We received 1 nomination! The nominated CITO was Virginia Beach Cito - May 2022 and as it was the only cache nominated it has won the April COTM by default, and there will be no voting in May. Some of the comments about this CITO: "As part of the beach cleanup, we each got a Scavenger Hunt List…..some items were easy to find, some almost impossible, but it made us all look a little further than just picking up the usual litterTo top it all, we were given lovely prizes Best CITO I’ve ever attended"; What a clever idea to add some scoring to CITO event. From a mediocre chore to a race to collect the best trash!"; "Arrived at the GZ to be issued with instructions and a black bag and the temptation of prizes. Suddenly this had changed into fun."
As our focus for the May challenge is finding caches with high FPs and awarding FPs to those magic caches that we come across we thought what better theme for the month than Gadget caches! So please nominate the Best Gadget cache that you have found and let the rest of us be inspired to create something great.
Remember to motivate why this cache is the best gadget cache you've ever found. Nominations need to be submitted via this google form by 20 May 2023.
Community Input
We really do want to hear from you - You are the geocaching community and the heart of this game, so PLEASE engage with us.
You can do this in a variety of ways - vote and nominate for the COTM, share experiences or ideas or hints and tips with us for publication in the Grapevine by emailing or connect with us on our socials -Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and TikTok.
Because sometimes, for some people, it is about the numbers… Here is a summary of the South African Geocaching activity for March: 857 Cachers found a total of 4,481 caches during March. 30 Cachers placed 96 new caches during March. The number of Cachers who found at least 1 SA cache in the previous 12 months is 8,283. The number of Cachers who placed at least 1 SA cache in the previous 12 months is 220. The total number of active South African caches at the end of March is 15,470.
Top Dogs
Note: All the above statistics include all South African caches on the geocaching.com database, which doesn’t include Adventure Labs.
New Souvenir: Wheel of Challenges #2 Favourite Fan
This month we focus on Favourite Points - find caches with FPs and awarding FPs to caches. From 1 May - 4 June you have the chance to earn two new souvenirs for easy or hard levels of the challenge:
Easy: Reach 100 leaderboard points to earn the first souvenir.
Hard: Reach 1000 leaderboard points to earn the second souvenir.
Earn leaderboard points (LBP) as follows:
Find a cache with 10+ FPs = 20 LBP
Receive an FP on a cache you own = 50 LBP
Log a find = 10 LBP
Who is up for the challenge?!
New Souvenir: Maker Magic
Ever had that magic feeling when you find a cache that has been really well designed and thought out? Well lets getting creating and sharing inspiration!
From 13 June to 3 July you will be able to host or attend a Maker Magic event to earn a special souvenir. Please click on this link to read more details on the process to follow for hosting an event.
We look forward to seeing MM events popping up around the country and then can't wait to go out and find the caches that will be inspired by these events!
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 and pictured below:
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)
M 083 324 6176 C 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)
H 082 753 8082 Z 083 258 5926
Western & Northern Cape
SKATTIE@1 (Elize Louw)
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
Maintain your details
The current information we have for you is: Email: First Name: Richard Last Name: Chemaly Geocaching Name: Uncle Chem Province: Free State
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To top it all, we were given lovely prizes
Best CITO I’ve ever attended
"; What a clever idea to add some scoring to CITO event. From a mediocre chore to a race to collect the best trash!"; "Arrived at the GZ to be issued with instructions and a black bag and the temptation of prizes. Suddenly this had changed into fun."
Ever had that magic feeling when you find a cache that has been really well designed and thought out? Well lets getting creating and sharing inspiration!
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! 
General Geocachers of SA News
