Carbon Hunter

I guess the Lockdown months are now going to be some of the hardest (after 2001/2002) to find caches that were hidden - especially in SA? Is there any way to do a correlation of when our experienced cachers (say >100 finds) found their first find and were converted to experienced cachers - and also how many cachers have been regular finders over at least a 2 -3 year period. I really believe that to keep our game sustainable we need more cachers - then the hides / finds / events / etc. follow organically.

So good to see the name TECHNONUT still very much on both finders and hiders list - RIP Pete

Danie - you are a legend! Thank you once again

Wow - only 200 finds a year - I'm sure this is also lower - even on a cache like Table Mtn - can you plot maximum (or perhaps "mode or average" for the top 10 caches over the past few years? I'm sure this is also significantly down?

Danie You remain the guru - thank you - this is very valuable and interesting information.

Agreed- they are fascinating - Danie Viljoen is brilliant

Awesome South Africa - I can remember when there were less than 10!!!!!!

Danie Once again - a brilliant set of stats. thank you. I really think we need to be doing more recruitment - and quality cache placement (not nanos for numbers) should be the aim fir all of us

I sent your message onto the local WhatsApp group

That's about 4500 newbies - or fringe players - take 1/2 away for tourists and we still end with well over 2000 local cachers with potential to grow into the next geelvink or PieterM - there are some awesome "new" cachers of just over a year or so who now have 1000+ cache finds - we need to grow more of these - even if they only convert to a 100+ finders per year.

My comments on our 2017 stats: The total number of caches placed - lowest for 5 years! Hopefully we can turn that around Cache finds - downward - but we'll need to see if that is a trend or just a normal anomaly with over 180 Will Attend logs still needed (as of early Feb) for the possible MEGA in Gauteng - it seems like we need to do some major recruiting in the caching community in 2018 I do not believe that SA is anywhere near saturation level - if we look at a metro area like Durban - less than 50 odd regular cachers - this could easily hit the 500 mark to be comparable with Germany / US etc. - so with more cachers comes more caches. Similarly - areas like Newcastle ' Pietermaritzburg / East London / Rustenburg / Nelspruit / Witbank / Bloemfontein / Upington / Kimberley / Ladysmith / Bethlehem etc. - all large towns - with very few cachers. I still say cacher numbers are the issue - not number of caches I personally don't have an issue with certain "big number" finders having few hides. It would be nice to have them hiding - but each and every one of us plays the game in the way it works for us. Western Cape will remain the primary destination (tourists both international and local) - plus there are AWESOME cachers in the area - and some brilliant caches. I love caching there - and I'm a true blue Natalian. We all just need to co0ntiunue encouraging new cachers and placing new quality caches. The western Cape also lends itself to a more outdoorsy lifestyle. Canary Islands got 60000 odd more finds for 2017! That is huge. I really hope we reverse this trend - it's good to be the biggest in Africa. Interesting that Free State got almost twice the number of finds that KZN did (based on pie chart) Alarming that 1902 cachers only logged a single cache (even if you half that for tourists) - it means new cachers don't see the point - QUALITY caches are the key to keep us old folks interested and attract newbies. While an average finds of 18 caches sounds good - the median of 4 is bad - it means the large numbers of guys like geelvink and the others - are overshadowed by the huge numbers who do not change into regular cachers. We need to see new faces! Just over 2 finds a month (28) places you in the top 10% of cache finders in SA!!!!!! Very alarming on cacher "stickiness" We are having many many caches archived each year - agreed some may be archived too soon - but maintenance needs to be kept up on caches placed - or good quality caches that last need to be placed. Letss get out there and break records in 2018 - let's grow our hobby

Remember the cache safety booklet that was released for the KZN MEGA a few years back too. African cache Safety booklet - including section on Hiding a Cache

Glad to see this is still going - a real SA caching institution

From this table I see SA is at position 23 in the global enabled hides list. I seem to recall that in years gone by we were a little higher up the list (around 18 if I remember correctly). I have been scouring the old stats list (and apart from having a good giggle at some of the early stats - like being amazed at someone finding 24 Events in total - cowandchicken) - I could not find the list of countries - does anyone have access to the top countries by time?

PS??? What is that? Agreed - yes we all still have 1000s to find. I guess the concern is that sustainability is showing a rverse direction - and for the past few years we've seena downward trend - while countries like New Zealand and France are still seeing growth. E Cape is pleasing to see - so we need to learn in the likes of WC; GP and KZN

But 2012 and 2014 did not show much of a spike? So unless it is a targeted strategy for 2018 MEGA not sure how it will change?

I am very keen to join!!!!!

So what can be done to reverse this? Newbie events (bring a friend) - are organisations like the boy Scouts now saturated - do we need to get support from HQ to promote caching in Africa - what about neighbouring countries - surely Zim & Namibia in particular could do with some growth. Do we need cache hiders of the ilk or Crystal Fairy and TechnoNut again to saturate areas? What about a province like E Cape - with the large growth in cache numbers - have we seen an associated growth in cachers?

Here is the event listing Eureka City - event for Earthcachers

Very sad Could we perhaps keep track of some of the SA stalwarts who have passed on. I think of Madsons a few years ago in a car accident - and a fine lady from Welkom (I forget her name) - I'm sure there are many more I am forgetting.

Keep an eye out for the weekend of 24 September - and the guided tour of the Barberton geology trail and earthcaches - plus a bonus visit to Eureka city

Congrats South Africa = 19 June 2017 = 6000 days of active caches in the country

And to Team Wh00 - over the 3000 mark. Some laarge milestones among the community - well done to rodnjoan too!

Watch out Wildbirds...... here I come..... one day .... perhaps........ maybe

Ive used Facebook - or uploaded to a GC log - then link - both are a schlep!