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  • GoSA Grapevine February 2024

GoSA Grapevine February 2024





GoSA Grapevine
February 2024
 
This month in the Grapevine; New Stuff - a lot of it and a GoSA Podcast
From the Desk of the Chairman
Hello from the heat of Bloemfontein and from the off, I have an apology to make; a few of them actually so let's start:

- Sorry for the hiatus in the newsletter. There's been some thinking around it and if we do things, we should do them properly. That's not to say that previous newsletters were any bad. It's just that as we go forward, we need to improve. I got sent a copy of a newsletter of another caching association and while I may have personally felt that it looked like the newsletter of an obscure church that's about to go out of business with a doctrine of font size, the message was clear; there was more to be done in our own newsletter so over the next few months, you'll be noticing some new things. Of course that means we need you to keep things coming; whether it's a once off or a feature, please fire a message our way at 

- Sorry to the KZN community for the snub. I loved caching in your hood last month and I always attempt to make an effort to see members of the local community when I travel. My trip, however was unexpectedly cut short, thanks to work, so I couldn't make the Bunny Chow event as I had planned. I mention this to encourage more frequent events across the country but on a more serious tone, I want to address something that has been concerning me of late - I've heard some whispers of cliques and exclusion, even from some of those closest to me in the caching community. It's concerning because I don't want our work to result in isolation. We encourage communities, especially regional ones but certainly not to the exclusion of any individuals. We hosted the physical element of the AGM in the Western Cape last year in part to expand our reach to the caching community. I'm looking forward to attending an event in Natal and others all over the country. Thanks for the {FTF} by the way.

- Sorry to the eagle eyed readers who noticed that the last newsletter read 2014 and not 2024. Well spotted the 7 of you yet I'm still waiting for somebody to find the other easter egg that's been hiding in the newsletter over the last 7 months.

- Sorry that this is scheduled to go out at 23h45 but there's a joke going on in the Geocachers SA Whatsapp group that this will be the ultimate valentine and to improve the odds, saving the best for last.

- Sorry that a lot of this didn't come sooner. Do enjoy though and let us know what you think!

Upwards and onwards and finds finds finds!

Oh and I'm sorry to the Western Cape that OR Tambo's virtual prevented a clean sweep of having all top ten most found caches in 2023. See the annual stats below and thanks to the tireless work of Adventure_T and Danie Viljoen for these monthly gems.
 
RIDICULOUS ROADTRIPS: 9 PROVINCE CACHE DASH
by za pienaar family
.A few minutes before midnight ... two cars pulled over on the roadside near Bela-Bela, Limpopo … a dog’s barking echoes through the stillness of the night.  To the average passerby, what dodgy dealing is going down …?  Well, just a bunch of geocachers and the start of our crazy '9 Province Cache Dash'.
 
The Inspiration
This road trip has been long in the making, since I first proposed the idea at an event way back in 2019.  Was it possible to find and log a traditional cache in all nine provinces within a 24-hour time limit?  A Covid pandemic and the general busyness of life, meant that it remained just an idea, until another cacher, JPMZA attempted the journey on 16th June 2022.  JP completed the challenge in 23 hours 25 minutes, after 1680 kilometres of driving.
 
So, with the December / January holidays approaching, I decided it was definitely time to make this road trip happen.  Eventually, a core team of geocachers was convinced to give up a weekend and join me on this crazy adventure.  The 6th January was selected as the day, as this would give us maximum daylight hours and hopefully the roads would be less busy at this time of year.  We decided to travel with two vehicles, as a safety precaution. CarboniteSheep, Panthera03, MacAddikt, Urban Campers, Orosman, Uncle Chem and Andypandy94, signed up for the adventure. 
 
The Plan
In planning the route, I looked for locations where the provincial borders were close together and there were available traditional caches close by. The difficulty was in finding caches which hadn't already been logged by a member of the team. So, it is possible that a shorter route could be found, depending on your previous logged finds.
 
Game Day
We all met in Lonehill on Friday evening, and then set off for the Limpopo province at 22h00. With a brief coffee stop at Big Bird, we made good time to Bela-Bela (Warmbaths).
 
Province 1 : Limpopo - Ol' Yella (GCAGCM6)
On arrival at GZ, we had to wait a few minutes, before 'cracking the cache' at precisely midnight, to officially start the time on our road trip adventure. Excitement was running high, and despite my attempts to keep the noise levels down, our voices carried in the darkness and the nearby dogs joined in with their cacophony of barking. I didn't fancy having to explain what we up to at this hour to a disgruntled neighbour! Luckily, no interruptions, the cache was easily located, and after the obligatory photo, our adventure was well and truly underway.
 
Province 2 : Gauteng - Stretch a Leg - N4 Doornport West (GC8DTEH)
With radio comms between the two vehicles – Team Golf and Team Lima (after the ending letters of the registration plates), there was some general banter between the teams, as we drove through the night to our planned second stop.   Navigational challenges amongst Team Golf at the Doornpoort Toll Plaza, meant that they missed the correct turnoff and couldn’t get back to this planned cache.  Logged however, by Team Lima.  Team Golf continued on, to one of the backup caches on the list 'Scubie's 2 province 20 cache dash 18/20 - Die Bek (GC5V4ER), where the two vehicles regrouped.  Time check, 01h32.
 
Province 3 : North West - Scubie's 2 province 20 cache dash 17/20 - Exit NW (GC5V4EC)
01h42 ... Useful to have a cache right on the boundary between Gauteng and the North West province. The trip proceeding more or less as originally planned ... and making good time so far.
 
Province 4 : Mpumalanga - Pepe Grootvlei (GCAH69A)
Time check 03h54.   Things were very quiet around GZ at this time of the morning, so it didn't take long before the hidden container was retrieved. The usual celebratory photo and we were on the road again.   Some night driving along dirt roads to get back to the N3 added to the excitement.
 
Province 5 : Free State - Ntsuanatsatsi (Tafelkop, Table Mountain) (GCAFQQA)
We continued towards Harrismith, with the reddish skyline our encouragement that dawn was not far off.  Arrived at GZ at 05h15, with Tafelkop just sticking out of the morning mist. The container was quickly recovered, despite our initial concerns from reading the initial logs. Such a privilege to share this moment with geocaching friends, on a deserted stretch of road, with a brisk chilly morning and the sun just rising. Makes one appreciate the beauty of our country and the places geocaching takes you to.  The halfway mark! Well at least in terms of the number of provinces, if not in distance or hours travelled.
 
Province 6 : Kwazulu-Natal - Little Switzerland (GCAHPW5)
After a breakfast stop at Harrismith, we made our way past Sterkfontein Dam and down the Oliviershoek Pass (R74), to the Little Switzerland resort. Had been keeping an eye on this cache, since it was published, as a potential FTF during the trip. Enjoyed the drive down the pass on a clear morning, with the grand vista of the Northern Drakensberg peaks for company.  Parked at the entrance to the resort, and a short walk back up the road to GZ. A clean log sheet was just waiting to be retrieved, so it was nice to celebrate the second half of our journey with a joint FTF at 08h00.
 
Province 7 : Northern Cape - #3 Concentration Camp Memorial (GCAHNHD)
A rather long drive from northern KwaZulu-Natal, via Bethlehem, Winburg and Bloemfontein to get to this point. We stopped for a break in Bloemfontein, a chance to stretch the legs, grab something to eat and change drivers. Fortuitously for us, a new series of caches had been recently placed in the Gariep area, otherwise we were looking at a single cache in Colesburg with a possible back-up in De Aar, to complete the Northern Cape province.  Arrived at GZ at 14h39 and enjoyed taking in the sights and story behind the memorial, which we would probably never have visited, were it not for Geocaching.

Province 8 : Eastern Cape - #4 Hydroelectric Power Station (GCAHNHM)
An impressive sight, with the water flowing from the Gariep Dam and a great location for a geocache. This location also serves as a meeting point for three provinces - Free State, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape.  Completed at 15h13.  We decided to take the more scenic route out, to get a better view of the dam wall, as well as pick up an additional cache or two ... while heading back towards the N1 and our final cache in the Western Cape
 
Province 9 : Western Cape - Road to Murraysburg from the N1 (GC9QCAV)
Our final stop, plus the usual celebratory team dance and photo. We have been on the road since midnight, bagged all 9 provinces, found 12 - 13 caches along the way (depending which vehicle you were travelling in) and covered approximately 1522 kms in 18 hours 27 minutes.
 
The Western Cape had seemed just that much further away, while completing the final 250 km stretch since our last find at the Gariep Dam! After locating the cache on the signpost, we were a little worried that this might be a 'throw down' container, from a previous visitor. To make sure that we had properly completed our '9 Provinces in 24 Hours' we elected to drive on to the next available cache 'Murraysberg 30 Graaff-Reinet 120 (GC9QFMV)' to close out our journey.
 
Epilogue
After completing the challenge, we drove on to Graaff-Reinet and then stopped to overnight at
Nieu-Bethesda.  Next morning, we decided on an early start to complete three local caches and the Adventure Lab, before the long journey back to Jozi.  To break up the trip, we made a few caching stops along the way too. These included Loodsberg Pass (1781m) (GC22MVN), Stoel Monument (GC5CHPF), N1 Stilfontein Blockhouse (GC250E) and Kuilfontein (GC2MYMR).  Adding a further seven caches to our finds from the previous day. 
 
In all, an enjoyable adventure, shared with our Geocaching friends!  So, where to next?  Watch this space, the next ridiculous roadtrip is already in the ideation phase!
 
New Reviewers and a New Podcast
There are some things we don't ever think to ask for but that we actually never knew we needed...like new reviewers. Join us in welcoming Umsizi and Afrikasekind. To learn more about them, we took the opportunity to launch a new podcast for the purpose and let's see where it goes. Let us know what you think.

Naturally it wouldn't be a podcast if we didn't urge you to like, review, subscribe, sign over your house and make us a sandwich. And while you're doing those things, we'll begin moving the podcast onto other platforms beyond Spotify. Let us know which to put a rush on.

 
 
Introducing the Maintenance Map
There are over 1700 Geocaches in need of maintenance or at least marked as such in South Africa. 
 Next to the some 15400 caches we have in the country, that represents about 11,2% of all our caches are marked as needing maintenance. It's a large number and perhaps some of them simply need to have the log updated. The map is designed so you can check the area around and perhaps contribute to maintanance somehow. After all, the game is only fun when the caches are in action.  

Total number of "Needs Maintenance" caches in February 2024 = 1731
 
 
This Month's Caching Series

While we're highlighting some of the interesting series of caches in South Africa every month, we should start with the Jasmer dream. The hardest of the hardy. The most difficult of the tough and the toughest of the difficult. The legendary D/T 5/5 caches. There are all of 36 of them scattered across South Africa. How may have you found?
 
  Cache type Waypoint Name Placed By Placed FP Province
GC428EW Traditional Cache Urban Toadstool paddawan 2012.12.01 32 Western Cape
GC23RQN Traditional Cache All the fives louwtjievdw 2010.02.08 28 Free State
GC1X936 Unknown Cache 340 Degrees Skyjuggler 2009.09.04 27 Kwazulu Natal
GC6CF8H Multicache Glencoe Quarry terunkie 2016.03.02 27 Western Cape
GC35EP2 Unknown Cache Article 360 Hesamati 2011.10.06 21 Western Cape
GC2QV6C Traditional Cache The Hardest Cache on Table Mountain col_mustard 2011.03.24 20 Western Cape
GC6KE7A Multicache SMAUG George c12 2016.06.09 20 Eastern Cape
GC3FXE5 Unknown Cache South African Fizzy Challenge: The Full Matrix AndyT1 2012.05.17 18 Western Cape
GC4RPG9 Unknown Cache The Treasure of the Copper Scrolls 2 erenei 2013.11.07 17 Eastern Cape
GC5F6BW Unknown Cache Wormhole of Spam TheToothFairy & LegoMikey 2014.10.20 16 Kwazulu Natal
GC4AETR Multicache Into the Abyss paddawan and capeccr 2013.04.22 15 Western Cape
GC5JC3C Unknown Cache Abyssmal TheToothFairy and TechnoNut 2014.12.28 15 Kwazulu Natal
GC1AA5C Multicache Tafelberg Plateau Pseudolite 2008.03.15 12 Western Cape
GC6ZYGV Traditional Cache Waterfall Extreme BoazRuthFields 2017.01.25 11 Western Cape
GC3T577 Unknown Cache CCC5 - Table Mountain Goat Challenge OneMatchFox 2012.08.18 10 Western Cape
GC3FXV0 Unknown Cache Western Cape Champagne Challenge: 5 x 5 AndyT1 2012.04.01 9 Western Cape
GC6ZT55 Traditional Cache Sedge Dune Extreme 1 BoazRuthFields 2017.01.28 9 Western Cape
GC4WQ75 Unknown Cache Mind Your Language 5 mlornelh 2014.01.10 9 Kwazulu Natal
GC3C5MA Unknown Cache Where Eagles Dare Cache Quest [ZA] 2012.01.01 6 Free State
GC3T4NR Unknown Cache CCC4 - Cape Nature Junkie Challenge OneMatchFox 2012.08.09 6 Western Cape
GC6V70G Unknown Cache Twin caches - spot the difference (Part 2) scubie999 2016.10.08 6 Gauteng
GC5N674 Unknown Cache Curse of the Nano Final The Huskies 2015.02.21 6 Western Cape
GCAGVT9 Traditional Cache Under the Sea eneveraa 2023.11.26 5 Western Cape
GCXHKP Traditional Cache Where Angels Fear to Tread Littleclan 2006.07.31 5 Western Cape
GC2WEY1 Multicache CPT - CAPE POWER TRAIL CapeDoc and friends 2011.05.18 3 Western Cape
GC5KJYM Unknown Cache SA 4SOME CHALLENGE iPajero 2015.01.21 3 Eastern Cape
GC5WPAK Unknown Cache Montagu Mountain Mystery Mountain Wanderer 2015.06.27 3 Western Cape
GC7QAM0 Unknown Cache Hiker Challenge TEAM SCHUTTE 2018.05.26 3 Western Cape
GC4JMJW Unknown Cache Fairies Little Tree House eneveraa 2013.08.12 2 Eastern Cape
GC4XAV4 Unknown Cache North, South, East, West – EC is best CHALLENGE iPajero 2014.01.21 2 Eastern Cape
GC14DD7 Traditional Cache MISDADIGERSBOS CACHE shc_inc 2007.07.14 2 Western Cape
GC1492E Traditional Cache Filander se cache shc_inc 2007.05.08 1 Western Cape
GCA2KDP Traditional Cache iMfolozi Tarimo 2022.11.30 1 Kwazulu Natal
GC43GQR Traditional Cache Spiderman Xanderalex&kie 2012.12.28 1 Free State
GC71PH0 Traditional Cache Wilderness Ultra Island BoazRuthFields 2017.02.14 0 Western Cape
GC80470 Unknown Cache Challenge cache - Miles and miles. PieterM 2018.11.01 0 Western Cape

 

 
Leap Year 
While you may be aware of the souvenir for finding four caches or adventure lab points but some may also be interested in the BadgeGen opportunity that comes up only once every four years. Yes you may have all the diamond badges but do you have all the add-ons? There are a number of add-ons that you can get on Leap Day for various badges as detailed below. Event hosts don't have much time left to host an event. Get cracking!
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheAchiever&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Achiever: Find at least one challenge cache on Leap day.
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheAdventurousCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Adventurous Cacher: Find at least one 5/5 cache on a Leap day.
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheAllAroundCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The All Around Cacher: Fill all 360 sectors with finds on Leap day.
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheAttributeCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Attribute Cacher: Log geocaches with all 108 relevant attributes on Leap day.
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheBrainiac&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Brainiac: Find at least one Difficulty 5 Geocache on Leap day.
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheBusyCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Busy Cacher: Log the amount required for Diamond (400 caches), on a single Leap day.
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheDiverseCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Diverse Cacher: Log the amount of unique Geocache types required for Diamond on a single Leap day
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheEarthCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Earth Cacher: Log an Earth-cache on Leap day
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheEnvironmentalCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Environmental Cacher: Attend a CITO event on Leap day
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheEventHost&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Event Host: Host any event on Leap day
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheFTFAddict&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The FTF Addict: Log a First to Find on Leap day
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheGigaSocialCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Giga Social Cacher: Attend a Giga event on Leap day
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheGPSMazeCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The GPS Maze Cacher: Log a GPS Maze event on Leap day
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheHighAltitudeCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The High Altitude Cacher: Log a Geocache, on Leap day, at the height of at least 4,500 meters above sea level.
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheLabCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Lab Cacher: Log a lab cache on Leap day
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheLargeCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Large Cacher: Log a Large cache on Leap day
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheLetterboxer&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Letterboxer: Log a Letterbox cache on Leap day
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheLongDistanceCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Long-Distance Cacher: Log a Geocache on Leap day, on a distance from home that fulfills the Diamond requirement (10,000 km).
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheLowAltitudeCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Low Altitude Cacher: Log a Geocache, on Leap day, at the depth required by Diamond (100m below sea level).
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheMatrixCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Matrix Cacher: Log all of the 81 unique D/T ratings on Leap days
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheMegaSocialCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Mega Social Cacher: Attend a Mega event on Leap day
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheMicroCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Micro Cacher: Log a Micro cache on Leap day
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheMultiCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Multi Cacher: Log a Multi-cache on Leap day
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheMysteriousCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Mysterious Cacher: Log a mystery cache on Leap day
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheOddsizedCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Odd-sized Cacher: Log a cache with a size of "other" or "unknown" on Leap day.
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=ThePhotogenicCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Photogenic Cacher: Log a Webcam cache on Leap day
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheRegularCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Regular Cacher: Log a regular cache on Leap day
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheRuggedCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Rugged Cacher: Log a Terrain 5 cache on Leap day
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheSmallCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Small Cacher: Log a small cache on Leap day
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheSocialCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Social Cacher: Attend any event on Leap day
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheTraditionalCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Traditional Cacher: Log a Traditional cache on Leap day
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheTravelingCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Traveling Cacher: Log a Geocache on leap day in at least two different countries. It's not necessary for the finds in the two countries to be on the same leap day.
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheVirtualCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Virtual Cacher: Log a Virtual cache on Leap day
  • badgegen-v4-badge.php?icon=TheWherigoCacher&quality=D&addons=leapday&loop=&.png The Wherigo Cacher: Log a Wherigo cache on Leap day
The country badges are also applicable
Feature App of the month
Apps make our lives better and whether you're using the official app, C:Geo, cachly or whatever your poison, there are so many other apps to make geocaching better, even if they're not designed for geocaching. 
This month, we're looking at
You know that annoying feeling of going on an adventure with friends and then the bill comes and you need to split it...but then one person says they'll pay for it and deal with the split later...but then you have to put petrol in and the same thing happens...and at the end of the day everybody owes everybody money and you have to do, urgh, math, before even getting to your logs. 

Splitwise makes all that easy and automatic. Load up your adventure buddies. Every time there's a cost, plug it in and indicate among who it will be split and at the end of the adventure, the app tallies it all up and spits it out to you. There are some premium features like currency conversion but for the avid geocacher, the free option is as useful as you'll ever need, if you can stomach the ads.

If you want to make your geocaching adventure financing that much easier, you could do worse than looking at Splitwise.
 
Community Contributions
SA Geocaching Stats
By Adventure_T and Danie Viljoen
 

Because sometimes, for some people, it is about the numbers…

November 2023

539 Cachers found a total of 2,310 caches during November 2023.
27 Cachers placed 40 new caches during November..
The number of Cachers who found at least 1 SA cache in the previous 12 months is 6,895.
The number of Cachers who placed at least 1 SA cache in the previous 12 months is 208.
The total number of active South African caches at the end of November is 15,108..
 
Top Dogs:
Top 5 Finders for the month (and caches found):
1 Eksteen
Team4RA
88 each
     
3 Commaille 52
4 oomkesm 41
5 ChaunBoon 27

Top 5 Hiders for the month (and caches hidden):
1 QwikChek 7
2 AlexPMaloney 4
3 Anrichdt 3
4 Andredj 2
4 Ka'anapali Spirit 2

Top 5 Finders for 2023 (and caches found):         
1 chrisingy 860
2 iPajero 538
3 white night 378
4 0utasight 369
5 Uncle Chem 352
                                                               
Top 5 Hiders for 2023 (and caches hidden):        
1 SimonLourens 68
2 QwikChek 67
3 Desertal 48
4 Geofun224 45
5 Panthera03 36

Top 5 Finders of South African caches for ALL TIME (and caches found):
1 iPajero 21694
2 The Huskies 9375
3 rodnjoan 8604
4 SKATTIE@1> 8171
5 terunkie 8125

Top 5 Hiders of South African caches for ALL TIME (and caches hidden):
1 PieterM 584
2 Adventure_T 526
3 iPajero 452
4 SawaSawa 406
5 Panthera03 402
.
December 2023

1,236 Cachers found a total of 5,620 caches during December.
38 Cachers placed 80 new caches during December.
The number of Cachers who found at least 1 SA cache in the previous 12 months is 6,977.
The number of Cachers who placed at least 1 SA cache in the previous 12 months is 209.
The total number of active South African caches at the end of December is 15,116.
The number of caches found in South Africa during 2023: 56,117
The number of new caches placed in South Africa during 2023: 1,002
 
Top Dogs:
Top 5 Finders for the month (and caches found):
1 Eksteen 182
2 Rambo5775 109
3 Weltenbummler47 100
4 Desertal 68
5 ChaunBoon 60

Top 5 Hiders for the month (and caches hidden):
1 SimonLourens 13
2 AlexPMaloney 7
3 Anrichdt 5
3 Andredj 5
3 Ka'anapali Spirit 5

Top 5 Finders for 2023 (and caches found):         
1 chrisingy 859
2 iPajero 538
3 white night 394
4 0utasight 384
5 Weltenbummler47 376
                                                               
Top 5 Hiders for 2023 (and caches hidden):        
1 SimonLourens 86
2 QwikChek 75
3 Desertal 48
4 Geofun224 45
5 white night 40
Top 5 Finders of South African caches for ALL TIME (and caches found):
1 iPajero 21694
2 The Huskies 9376
3 rodnjoan 8614
4 SKATTIE@1> 8204
5 terunkie 8159

Top 5 Hiders of South African caches for ALL TIME (and caches hidden):
1 PieterM 585
2 Adventure_T 526
3 iPajero 452
4 SawaSawa 411
5 Panthera03 403

Number of new Cachers in South Africa:
2023: 4,189
2022: 5,508
2021: 3,565
2020: 3,457
2019: 4,446
Finds per province, 2023:
 
1 Western Cape  24670 44.0%
2 Gauteng   12364 22.0%
3 KZN  6762 12.0%
4 Eastern Cape 4809 8,60%
5 Mpumalanga 2297 4,10%
6 Free State 2179 3,90%
7 North West 1260 2,20%
8 Northern Cape 929 1,70%
9 Limpopo 847 1,50%
       
    Total 56,117  
 

Most found caches during 2023:
 
1 GC31WXR Table Mountain Travel Bug Hotel Western Cape 252
2 GC6JCHV V&A Waterfront: Bay Vista Western Cape 225
3 GC892A2 Virtual Reward 2.0 - O. R. Tambo International Gauteng 168
4 GC37VF3 Tip of Africa Western Cape 149
5 GC7B84E Cape Town / Table Mountain Virtual Reward Western Cape 148
6 GC88Z0F V&A Clock Tower - Virtual Reward 2.0 Western Cape 147
7 GC7B71M Cape Light Western Cape 141
8 GC94ACM Five Bolts Western Cape 127
9 GCMYYZ Table Top Trove Western Cape 124
10 GC842TG The LoveBug's Nest - CPT Int Airport TB Hotel Western Cape 116
Note: All the above statistics include all South African caches on the geocaching.com database, which doesn’t include Adventure Labs.
Current and Known Upcoming 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:
  • Leap Day – Find any cache, adventure lab location or attend any event on 29 February.
  • Hider 2024 – Hide any cache between 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024
  • CITO Season 1 -  Attend a CITO event between 1 March and 31 May
 

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  
If you're reading this part, I'm really hopeful that more people send some sweet contributions about event series. I'd like to compile a record of all the historical series in SA
Details
Last Updated: 17 April 2024
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