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 16^th 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 6^th 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!

 

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

 

 

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.

 

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