The return of the Irish, Gearing up for Pub Quiz and Solstice
From the Desk of the Chairman
Hello from a cold Johannesburg that's not near as cold as Bloemfontein but still cold enough to make me excited for a coastal KZN trip this weekend. When things heat up, in August, you're invited to my braai. It's in Bloem on the 10th and set up to offer at least 100 {FTF}s. The origin story gist is that I needed a manner of silencing everybody who threaten to come caching in Bloem but never come. Here's your invitation.
It's also an inspiration to plant some cool caches. It seems that there are some interesting new enclaves of caching communities popping up and we'd do well to ride that energy. On that note, you'll be noticing an increase in geocaching in the press over the next two months. We'll share these on the community WhatsApp group and media page on the website. Use them to convert your, otherwise awesome, muggle friends. On the subject of WhatsApp, we toyed with the proposal to convert the community group into a WhatsApp community though there was quite a bit of apprehension towards it so that idea has been placed on backburners but if there are better ways for communication, fire ideas our way.
On a more quizzical note, the online pub quiz is ready to roll and no longer requires two devices We've been testing the TrivNow software and it can all be done on the platform so check the details lower down for the fun of Friday, 21 June...time is ticking to get your event going. Looking forward to it!
Peethonda and Zandri57, both South Africans that migrated to Ireland in April 2004 visited South Africa in 2024 again, but this time with a big goal thanks to Geocaching.
On 21 February 2024, a trip planned for a very long time, came to reality. A month long trip through Western Cape, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape, logging some South African Geocaches, seeing friends and family after 7 years again and enjoying some real South African Braai and Roosterkoek.
Aiming to explore the Route 62, with an Adventure lab stretching over 10 towns, they went on their tour. First attending a big birthday and thereafter a wedding. They met up with KarooExplore and 90Unknown09 starting their tour. From Victoria West to Graaff-Reinet for the first night finding 29 caches along the way. By the 4th of March 2024, they were in Port Elizabeth/Gqeberha. They attended an event, Greenacres Meet&Greet, that KarooExplore organised prior. The event was a huge success meeting some of the Geocachers from the area and enjoying a meal at Spargo’s. The Geocachers that attended with Peethonda, Zandri57, KarooExplore and 90Unknown09, were White Night, Wikkelgat, iPajero, Sekhie and a newbie Dreamgirl. It was a wow for the Geocachers to meet Geocachers from Ireland.
The following day they explored a bit, meaning Geocaching and doing some Adventure Labs, before heading off to Twee Riviere on Route 62. It is a beautiful route to do with friendly people and comfortable accommodation along the way, also learning so much and exploring. Next visiting and staying over with family near Oudtshoorn, also finding more Geocaches. Heading to Ashton, the view just amazed them and also getting some loadshedding experience with it. KarooExplore and 90Unknown09 also getting their 200th find. From there they went to Beaufort west, Loxton and Carnarvon, exploring the pass, came to very interesting caches. Heading back to Cape Town they were reaching the end of their month long trip. Did a quick birthday party and Table Mountain outing with another 10 point Adventure Lab before the flight on 23 March 2024. It was quite a journey and the month flew by. With 290 finds in South Africa (some of them Adventure Labs), they went back to Ireland.
Video link of the trip from KarooExplorer
This Month's Caching Series Wireless Beacon Caches in SA There was a new radio cache set up last year and it seems we have a few wireless caches though they have few finds...how many have you found?
How do you give recognition to geocaching achievement, have multiple events around the country and have a great geocaching time? Who knows but maybe the answer is a pub quiz of sorts.
At 7pm on 21 June, cachers from all over the country (actually even the world) are invited to join our pub quiz from wherever they are; preferably some event so get publishing. You'll also get the solstice souvenir.
"How will it work?"
The quiz starts at 19h00 and will be done on your phone/laptop so you’ll need some internet access.
To join the quiz, you do not need to download nor register anything. You merely need to use your browser to go to our dedicated TrivNow server ( https://play.trivnow.com/TYEW ) and login as a guest (the small ghost on the top right of the screen). Once in, you can change your name for the event.
For this inaugural one, there will be no teams, however feel free to create informal teams for fun. Since points are awarded for speed, those playing as individuals would not be prejudiced and no amount of internet searching skills will aid you in the 20 second limit.
We were going to require separate devices to see the quizmaster through a different app but we've set it up in such a way that it can all be done through the TrivNow servers.
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.
You could have logged so many more trackables but you were too lazy to type out all those codes that you took photos of at some event. Your friends come over with their trackables but you never get around to the admin of discovering the,
What if that admin could be taken out of the equation?
Seems like it can. Using a combination of your phone camera and some impressive software, you can scan the TB code and the app will recognize the code and log it for you. Makes trading trackables way more fun and exciting.
Because sometimes, for some people, it is about the numbers…
April 2024
859 Cachers found a total of 3,349 caches during April. 28 Cachers placed 37 new caches during April. The number of Cachers who found at least 1 SA cache in the previous 12 months is 7,048. The number of Cachers who placed at least 1 SA cache in the previous 12 months is 217. The total number of active South African caches at the end of April is 14,981.
Top 5 Hiders of South African caches for ALL TIME (and caches hidden):
1
PieterM
585
2
Adventure_T
526
3
iPajero
454
4
SawaSawa
412
5
Panthera03
409
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:
Hider 2024 – Hide any cache between 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024
June Solstice 2024 - Find a cache, attend an event or log an AL between 19 June 2024 and 21 June 2024
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, something is 7BEM9G hidden here. I'm really hopeful that more people send some sweet contributions about event series.
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! 