Louise_Gerhard

I can now understand why we are still 500 + cachers. It appears as if most cachers do have some sort of experience and knowledge about these little sliders. I managed to learn something new again and thanks for the input. I think the awareness level is raised again. The best advice I can give is to carry a little black book with you. List your medical data such as emergency rescue number, medical aid number, diabetes status and allergies - if you do get injured and you can not speak for yourself. Keep the numbers of the mountaineering club, snake identification with pictures, contact details, next of kin, etc with you in this book with your hiking gear in a sealed bag. Most people have all the info they need but if disaster struck they forget about all their skills and knowledge and panic sets in. You will also discover that in most cases Murphy’s Law will apply. The guy with the most knowledge will be bitten and he will lose unconscious leaving the others to do CPR and treatment and they have no clue. Very few of us can calmly say “Ok, I am bitten by a full grown mamba, I feel faint and I am 20 km away from the nearest point of help and I have about three hours left in this world and I have no cell phone reception – what is the next step?” Some people will read the last sentence and will start to panic, in a real life and death situation fear is the worst enemy. This is why you have your little book; this is what guides you what to do if the chips are down. When the mind starts to race this is your reference to get in control. Ok, if you have a fall alone somewhere in the Drakensberg and you are unconscious it will be hard to read your little book so don’t take chances – rather skip the cache and move on or down. I remember another incident while doing an event in Nelspruit. We found the cache and everybody was happy. One of the cachers placed his hand inside the plastic bag to retrieve the container. The next moment he was in pain and the scorpion fell out. Luckily this was a warning and a wake up call. The question that remains is how many of us are placing our hands inside plastic bags without realising that a spider or scorpion is waiting for that hand to get close. Prevention is better than the cure. Shake the bag and let the cache drop out. Here prevention is the answer – do not stash containers inside plastic bags. Remove the filthy bags or get a better container. The bottom line is that I received more pain from bees, wasps, poison ivy and thorns than snakes and I am glad that ratio is not reversed. Gerhard

The worst one I experienced was when Wazat and I were caching together. I removed the micro and I noticed that the log is wet. There was nothing inside the hole. Wazat replaced the log at the vehicle and we went back to the hiding place. Luckily I always check before I stick my hand into things. A boom slang was curled up in this hole. But it was so nicely done that you could have missed it. At first Wazat thought I was joking. While chatting to each other this snake suddenly disappeared to somewhere and then there were two cachers doing the dance on a bridge. This was more frightening. Scary like hell. It was gone without a trace. While it was inside the hole I tried to remove it but it was wedged solid but it was ready to strike. A boom slang will strike sideways and the bigger eyes are the tell tale that this is a boom slang. Wazat and I had a long discussion about this one and what was the next step if being bitten. The poison of the boom snake is deadly but people forget that you do not get bitten and die on the spot. This is a misconception. A boom slang can strike you and in some cases if you do not have the knowledge you will assume it is all ok after the first burning has stopped. There are cases where people was bitten and after a while they felt ok and assumed it is not poisonous. It is all about the dosage and if he succeeded to get a proper hold and if you are in good condition. Ok, if it is a kid you have a serious life threatening situation and then the clock is ticking. Every second will count. This is where you immobilize the arm or leg and you pick him up and you run with him. I hope you know how to do this. The Boom slang produces between 4 and 8 mg of poison. The lethal dosage is 5 mg to kill an average adult. If the kid is half your size then even the most timid boom slang could inject more than the lethal dosage. The problem is when the real symptoms are experienced then it is usually too late. The poison work slowly but the damage is tremendous and can not be reversed. You get bitten by one of them get to a hospital as quick as possible forget about resting, waiting, checking your waypoint and completing your diary. If you are close to the normal man's world drop your gear and leave it. With the other snakes the effect of the venom starts immediately. The best prevention is not to get bitten. 1. Do not step over rocks or branches but climb on top of it and then down. You need to see the area where you are going to place your foot. 2. Use a stick to remove caches; something could be on the top or behind. 3. Tap your stick on the ground if you walk along a path. Usually the snake will hear this vibration long before you get to it and it will get out of your way. 4. If grass is overhanging on a foot path use a stick to move them around as you walk. 5. If you want to sit down check the area and make sure it is clear of ants, snakes, elephants, muggles or spiders. 6. Always inform people where you are and what time you will be expected back. I cache alone even in the Drakensberg but I always phone to say where I am and to what point I am moving to. As soon as I get reception again then the same pattern is done. At least they will know where to collect me. 7. If you see a snake stand still and most of the time they will go away. Or move away from it but keep your eye on it. Don’t run like crazy or try to kill it – this is when people get bitten. Stay in control of yourself. Ok, the mamba and the adder could come for you. 8. Take a photo if bitten or take the snake with you. Dead not alive, if possible. If the snake is not identified then you have problems and they will wait for the test results and symptoms before they will treat you. This is where you can die in hospital. 9. Wear boots which is as high as possible – most of the bites are on the ankle up to knee height. 10. Don’t be brave – the snake struck faster than the eye. Keep your distance. Ok, enough distance if you can something like 1 km or more. On a serious note – stay well clear of him. Do not be surprise at the distance that he can move and strike. Most people misjudged the distance a snake can strike. 11. Stay in front of your children and not behind them. You get bitten then you have a chance. They get bitten then there is no time. 12. If you crawl into bushes check and pat the tree, bush and overhang before you get in there. If you walk into a bush try to focus on specific points. You will see movement if you do it this way. Just walking and looking around could cause you to miss that one movement between life and death. Same applies to muggles and people that sneak up on you. If you are focussed you will notice movement of the snake or muggle before you see them. 13. If you carry serum please discuss it with your doctor first. Some people are allergic to this and this could cause problems. At a cache planting by GpsStorm I experienced a very close one. Everything appeared normal and I tilted the cache out of the hole with the walking stick. The snake was behind it and strike the stick so fast that I had no time to react. Luckily he went for the stick and not me. When I realised that he went for me and I got back on my feet he was gone. Just to quote a few stats to put things in perspective. Read the book about the Drakensberg called “Dragon’s wrath written by Reg Pearse. From 1906 to 1985 only one person has died of a snake bite. More than half of the deaths were preventable and it was due to a fall. About five deaths were due to lightening. The rest were drowning, fire, exposure, missing or a pre-existing condition. About 75% of snake bites are on the legs and about 15% is on the hands. Don’t get bitten. You have a bigger chance to get shot in the veldt or to be overpowered. We have 500 cachers and not one is lost due to a snake – I hope. You can sit in front of the TV and a heart attack. The risk of snake bite is always there but it is slim but don’t relax and prevent first before cure. Numerous cachers had a near miss or must I say I near hit – but all of them done the right thing at that moment. Rather learn from that experience and be safe. So many times I have read “Do not put your hand down that hole” or “Use a stick”. But some people never learn. Gerhard Dr Arthur Morgan All outdoors people are at risk for snake bite in Southern Africa, although this occurs rarely. Be careful where you walk and put your hands. Wear long boots or long baggy trousers and thick socks to act as a barrier and to enlarge the target with air. If you see a snake, freeze, and then move away slowly without any sudden movements. Do not play with any snake, alive or (apparently) dead. The snakes of Southern Africa can be divided into several groups. From the point of view of their venom these are: Adders (vipers) Mambas and Cobras (including sub-type Spitting Cobras) Back fanged snakes (including sub-type Boomslang) Constrictors (no venom, but can inflict a nasty wound) Serious envenomation is not inevitable after a snake bite. The snake has to expend a lot of energy to make the venom, and will not use it wastefully – you are far to big for it to eat, and it just wants to warn you off with the least effort and risk to itself. It will inject a lot of venom only if you have made it very cross or very frightened. Treat envenomation only if it has occurred – as diagnosed by the signs and symptoms. Snake venom is a mixture of many substances with different toxic effects, but there will usually be one main effect on the victim. Treating effects of the major action will usually keep the patient alive during the acute phase of envenomation. The snakes with venom that can kill quickly are Mambas, Cobras, including Spitting Cobras, and similar snakes. Usuallythese venoms act mainly as a voluntary muscle paralysing agent although occasionally a cardio-toxin is injected into a vein which may depress the heart. The patient is unable to move or breathe, and other organs are affected only afterwards by the lack of oxygen. Severe weakness or paralysis may start within minutes or be delayed for an hour or two and progress very rapidly indeed, or over several hours,and may last a few days. The only emergency treatment needed is mouth to mouth rescue breathing, and periodic mopping up of saliva so it does not go into the lungs. If there are facilities to do so, intubate the trachea and ventilate with a self inflating bag ventilator and sedate the patient for his comfort. Sedate only if you are very well experienced in resuscitation! Pain is seldom a major problem, although a big Cobra or Mamba can cause a painful bite. Ventilation and good nursing will keep the patient alive until the venom is broken down. Nurse the patient as for any totally paralysed patient. Set up an intra-venous infusion. Keep the eyes closed so that they do not dry out since this will result in corneal ulceration. Keep the patient comfortable - cool, in the shade, off stones etc. Call for professional help early. Spitting Cobras have a venom that may cause severe, but not very extensive tissue necrosis (destruction). This will need a Surgeon's opinion. In Australia it has been shown that, with snakes with similar venom action, wrapping the limb from end to end with a comfortably tight crepe bandage will delay the onset of envenomation. This has not yet been validated for African snakes, but will probably not do any harm provided that it is not applied too tightly, and limb swelling is allowed for by slowly releasing tension as needed. If any venom has been sprayed into the eyes by the Spitting Cobras or Rinkhals there will be immediate severe pain. Wash the eyes with as much sterile or at least clean non-damaging fluid as possible. If anti-venom is used there can be a severe immune reaction with corneal damage so dilute to very low concentration with a safe fluid. Use of a sterile ophthalmic antibiotic ointment after very generous washing of the eye will decrease pain and infection. All Front fanged snakes have venoms at least partially neutralised by South African Institute for Medical Research Polyvalent Snake anti-venom. It can be bought but is expensive and has a short shelf life if not refrigerated. Anti-venom may be used if the user is trained to deal with severe and immediate allergic reactions. Since the anti-venom is made from horse serum any allergy to horse serum is an absolute contra-indication to its use. The serum should be given slowly as an intra-venous infusion. Adrenaline (epinephrine), anti-histamines and possibly cortico-steroids should be available for immediate use - adrenaline should be drawn up in a syringe or already diluted for infusion. After a severe envenomation by a large Cobra or Mamba the initial dose of anti-venom may be as much as 10 ampoules given over a few minutes. Stop if the patient is stable or improving. Consider more if the patient is becoming weaker. Ventilate the patient without delay if needed whether you are giving anti-venom or not. Night Adder Rinkhals TRAINING FACT SHEET - Number 3 This training fact sheet may be reproduced in an unaltered state. The typical adder / viper group such as the Puff Adder or the Gaboon Viper have venom that will act more slowly, and may cause massive tissue and blood vessel damage. Blood and fluid will leak out of the blood vessels into the tissues around the bite with severe pain and gross swelling. The damage may involve the whole limb. Fluid resuscitation is the primary treatment. Anti-venom may help and should be considered with a starting dose of up to 5 ampoules for a Gaboon Viper. Take the same precautions for allergy as suggested above. Strong analgesics such as morphine given carefully may be needed. Paracetamol will give useful additional analgesia, but avoid the non-steroidal anti-inflammatories because of possible kidney damage. Immobilise the limb as if it was broken, elevate it, set up an intravenous drip, and evacuate the patient to hospital as soon as possible. Remember to adjust the splints as the limb swells. Berg Adders seldom bite despite provocation. Their venom has been reported as causing death, but this is either very rare or misreporting. Although they are adders their venom causes mild local tissue damage, but affects the cranial sensory nerves with sound, smell, and visual hallucinations, or even tempory blindness. Permanent blindness has been reported. The Back fanged snakes like the Boomslang are usually timid and non-aggressive. You will have to work hard at getting bitten. Their venom affects the ability of the blood to clot, so the patient will ooze from every little hole. Death is over days so evacuate with as little trauma to the patient as possible. Even the damage done by brushing teeth will cause bleeding! Intravenous infusions should only be set up by experts. Specific and very effective Boomslang anti-venom is held by the South African Institute for Medical Research in Johannesburg and will be issued to treating doctors only after a firm diagnosis of Boomslang envenomation. The other Back fanged snakes do not have anti-venom and bites should be treated symptomatically. Many snakes have no venom glands or venom injecting mechanism. These are large compared to their prey and kill by constricting the prey and suffocating it. There are a few reports of large Pythons eating small children. The bigger snakes (Pythons and Mole Snakes) can inflict a nasty wound with their many strong teeth. The physical damage and infection can cause severe trauma to the victim. Tetanus is a real danger and tetanus toxoid should be given as is standard for any animal bite. The wound may need surgical cleaning and antibiotics. Several snake venoms have unpleasant effects but are seldom lethal, and cannot be treated. Treat the symptoms. Take home message- if the patient can't breathe, do mouth to mouth breathing for them. For more information about mountain skills training contact: South African Mountaineering Development & Training Trust www.mdt

Yes, we have Gsak with the whistles and bells and SQL who can produce amazing information. If you read the comments on the stats forum then it is quite good. But yet we have nothing on our trackables which is costing us much more money. I only have a couple of trackables and it is slap to watch them all. Maybe we should start with a commercial package that can track and update the trackables automatically which was found by the cacher. There is no proper program for this one and there is a huge demand from cachers to control trackables and their numbers. Maybe this is a project that I need to look into. To discover what cachers want will be easy. To get the information from the listings is also not a train smash because you have its unique number. I am going to retire early. At least we turned one negative into positive and we are now thinking out of the box. Instead of having annoying things in a forum we started to think about the solutions to annoying and how to make life easier. I like this. The only real issue is when you have a program like this and you do run cross references and a name of a cacher pops up who has a connection with various lost TB’s – what are you going to do? Maybe it is coincidence and not a fact that he is the guilty party. Maybe he is just a very active cacher. Maybe he is a newbie and he does not know better. To slap him out of his blood group will not help as he will still not understand what to do. Maybe you are slapping the wrong person. Information is powerful and the misuse and the misinterpreting of it of it are even more disastrous. It let me think of the one log I found on an earth cache. “I visited your earth cache and I could not find the container, how do I log this, will a photo be fine?” Trackables is in this category. I am out of here. Gerhard

Nope this is just a stand alone written in Access with manual entry. A query is written against the table and that is that. If you were expecting something commercial with entity relationship diagrams and data modelling with the aid of Microsoft Visio then you are wrong. All the tables are in 2NF and it is good enough for a small application where transitive dependency is not a problem. A database like this is straight forward. Databases and SQL is my strength on the IT side. This is one of the two main streams in the B.Sc that I am doing. The ordinary person with no knowledge of SQL could slap this together in an afternoon with access. But we are getting off the point here. Let us return to the things we do not like. Gerhard

Oh no, I forgot all about your jacket. Did you enjoy the winter? On a serious note – Wazat I will visit your earth cache if you visit my new one. Is this a deal? Go well. Gerhard

Well done Wazat on your first earth cache !!!! It does look good. One day in the future I will do a visit. In the next 4 weeks I will be in Newcastle for some hunting. Again, well done and I hope there is more of them. Maybe I should publish one as well. Gerhard

Please help me with this tiny issue. I am busy with an earth cache. I found an article and I contacted the writer. He informed me that he paid for this article and he have no problem with me publishing the information. In matter of fact he suggested that I do 3 earth caches at the same location but I think this is boring. So I do one with a aspect of all three. Now I am worried. On the one side I believe that if something is published on the Net that the information can be used as it is in public domain. As long as a reference was given to that person. It is his intellectual right and research after all. Also no cutting and pasting of the words but in my own words. On the other side I have this vague little voice saying that this writer paid for this information and that I should get the permission from the original person. What is the correct procedure to follow to ensure that I am following the rules? Gerhard

Wazat, I think you missed the earth cache closest to you. You have done caches above 2900 meters. You need to visit a cave nearby which is still in the Berg. Take a photo at the cave and send your GPS track and you can then log the one in the Drakekensberg. Well done Besem and for the others mentioned for their pins. Gerhard

The one thing that really annoys me is the issue concerning lost TB’s and coins. I always like to move them around when it is found in a cache. Sometimes they do get lost and that is a risk one has to accept. Muggled caches are not something you can control but it is the issues that can be controlled that annoy me. I will only drop coins/TB’s in a cache that I consider to be safe and where the risk of being muggled is low. I have adapted a strategy where I will watch the TB/coin as soon as it is dropped by me. Only when it is moved I will remove the watch from the trackable. One thing that I discovered recently is that I do drop coins/TB’s in remote places for the fear of loosing them. This is where the fun starts. I do get worried when a cacher visits the cache and no discovery is made. Is the coin still there or not is always the question. It really does get disturbing when after several visits one cacher is now doing the right thing and he writes “Coin is not in the cache”. I now have to go and check all the logs. Who took the coin is now the mystery. Eventually after several cross referencing the coin is confirmed gone and I feel like a thief because I dropped it. Then after several searches I will inform the owner of the loss. I do not like to do this and I always feel guilty. Then suddenly 6 months later this coin is discovered in a cache miles from the original cache and one that was never visited by me. Someone had moved it around. Out of shear frustration I designed a little database in Access to record all cachers that visited the cache after my visit and where the coin was lost as well as the areas of concerns. Strange enough I have the name of one cacher and with more information and incidents I will write them a not so friendly e-mail. (Privately) This chap is always appearing with a coin/tb issue. I am waiting for number 4 and then it is no longer coincidence that his name is among the names visiting the cache and where tb’s/coins are lost or misplaced. The annoying part is that 80% of these problems are not muggles but with cachers. It is a problem that is manageable. They remove coins/TB’s and they move them around without recording any details. Gerhard

Well done to the Ipajeo team with the cache finds in Swaziland. You have done well and it is wonderful to read the logs. Quick caches with high numbers are difficult in Swazi and if you get 3 or 4 then it is good. But even this rule was changed by them. It is amazing to notice that even if the going gets tough that their sense of humour is still there. Well done. Gerhard.

Is there anyone that has some information on this website? Normal maintenance or gone for good? Gerhard

Well done Bouts777 with your 200. I noticed that earth caches are a priority to you. I am glad that there is one MP cacher still going places and finding them. It appears as if only GpsStorm, FishEagle and you are still moving around and finding them. I wonder what happened to the rest. Ennjoy it.

My experience is different. I do a lot of back road driving and with the new maps from Garmin it is a breeze. It is an exception to find dirt roads not on the GPS. Here in MP even some of the plantation roads in the middle of nowhere are still drivable with auto routing. Even private farm roads are on the garmin. If I find a strange cache with no access road I will keep driving around it and normally I will find the entry road. But I agree with the following. If the access road is difficult and there is a risk that cachers can not find the entry road or that private property can be used to gain access than a responsible cacher should publish a waypoint. But this is not a rule. A good example is one if the caches of FishEagle called green stones. Here the challenge is not to find the cache but to find the access road. But the cache is placed well and no private property will be invaded. Gerhard

I done an earth cache in Nov 2008 and no one is visiting. This one is quite easy. There is no requirement for a photo for this cache. So if you want to do couch caches then go ahead. You should get the answers quickly. The first guy that e-mails me will get the FTF. It appears as if earth caches are not a great favourite here in Mpumalanga. Ok, the truth is that very little active cachers remained in MP. I am keeping an eye on the earth caches done by GpsStorm to see the hits. They are both well done and it does give you a lot of information and I hope that cachers will do an effort to visit them. Well done Chris. Gerhard

Ek dink ek praat namens RedGlobe en Urban Hunters. Daar is net een kryger. Die Kryger wat die "check" gaan doen op sy cache - ons sal jou aanmoedig met alles wat ons het. Ons is almal bankvas AGTER jou. Hierdie jaar was dit stress, volgende jaar dan skoffel ons en hou ons fees. Ek besef nou eers dat ons dit 'n jaar later gaan vier. Nou moet ons net sien of die ander cachers ook daar gaan wees. Daar behoort iemand te wees. Is daar enige weddenskappe? My wed is miskien Glider Slider, iPajero of Ginger sal die 18 gedoen het teen daardie tyd. Gerhard

Daar is net een probleem met die video. Hy begin met name en dan se hy die volgende "Hierdie video is slegs vir manne met 18 clues en meer. Dan kry jy 'n swart film verder ek wou se 'n blou een maar toe kom ek agter dat ek in groot moeilikheid gaan wees. Nee ek is nie ernstig nie. Sakkie dit is nou 'n goeie idee en ek wag nog vir die YouTube film. Gaan jy so maak of dink jy nog. Ek stem saam met RedGlobe. As hy of Urban Hunter 'n event wil reel dan is ek ook daar. Die fees is regtig iets goed en ek is spyt dat nie meer cachers gekom het nie. Volgende jaar sleep ek die familie saam fees toe. As hulle my kwaad maak dan skryf ek hulle in vir die soek van die finale een. Ek dink die idee dat cachers saam na die laaste een kan soek is 'n baie goeie idee. Dan kan ons darem die blad skud en dit sal meer spesiaal wees op die laaste een. Sakkie dit sluit jou ook in. Jy moet maintenance doen op jou cache so jy kan gaan kyk of hy reg is - ons sal maar van 'n afstand staan en kyk hoe jy dit doen. Gerhard

Something that was copied from the web. The oldest coal fire on earth is actually in Australia and has been burning for over 2,000 years!!!!! How I did not know this is a huge surprise to me. China has the worst problem in the world, it seems large enough that is would be worth finding a solution but common sense dictates they don't leave them burning because they can put them out!!!!!! Today, the main coal fire areas stretch along the coal mining belt in China, which extends for 5000 kilometers (km) from east to west along the north of the country. Here more than 50 coal fields affected by coal fires have been identified. At present in China an estimated 20-30 million tons of coal burn each year. This corresponds to the amount of Germany’s annual hard coal production. Actually, the tenfold amount of the resource is lost, since coal adjacent to a coal fire becomes inaccessible. The economic loss of the valuable resource in China is estimated to sum up to total 4.2 billion tons since 1960. Thus, China faces the world’s biggest problem of coal fires both in terms of the spatial area affected and the amount of coal lost each year. Gerhard

Cachers, please keep this one alive. I think we all learned something good about our history and we have seen a lot while doing 5000 km between the caches. It is a good series and worth doing. The final one is still there for you to find. The challenge is to find the 18 clues. I know that a couple of cachers are planning to complete the series. The final one is waiting in a very safe place for the next cacher and we will watch the logs for the next name on the list. I will publish the stats the moment cachers reached the 10 clue mark, if cachers want to see the stats. Thanks to Cincol for the help and guidance with the final one. A special thanks to Tusk as the originator of this idea. Thanks to FishEagle for his patience, guidance and quick publishing of the listings. I also wish to say thanks to all the cachers that made 19 caches possible. Last but not least to the organizers for the work that was done in the background. I will remember the tonteldoos series for a long time. It is with a little bit of sadness that we finished the final one. On the other hand it was great to do the final one with a group of real cool cachers. Also thanks to team Urban Hunters that handed us the special tonteldoos caps. I am sure that three teams will wear it with proud. I love the certificate and I will display it on top of my other geocaching goodies. Thanks and also to all those that was not mentioned.

My skin is too thick too take offence. I think this issue is resolved. If you look carefully you will note that the specific log is no longer and to me the issue is resolved when I removed the log. This was one instance out of 670 so to me this is not an issue but an exception. I also would like to apologize to the owner but I think that the person now understands better. An exception is not a rule and it should not be something for discussion. One can cry about everything you see in life and become a very bitter person but one must always measure the total effect and one must keep a perception and a balance. Communication via cell was done and a commitment was done. Because of the commitment we went back three times as there is a two way action. If someone says yes I will do it then I have to keep my side of the bargain as well. To log “Need maintenance” is not effective and some owners are jumping up and down when you do this. Just recently I looked for a cache that was about 1000 meters out. The trick was that the owner made a note somewhere on the listing but never realised that he should update the co-ordinates of the listing. If this was not possible then he must contact the reviewer to change the co-ordinates. I ended up looking for about 60 minutes for something that was not there – I normally do not read the logs but the listing. Only back at base I was reading all the logs and realised that the co-ordinates were incorrect. I dropped a DNF and I told the owner what he must do. Guess what – he jumped up and down for a while before he corrected the waypoint. Some owners do see this as a personal insult and do not like to be told what to do. A log is strange when the owner is aware that the cache is not there. That he can delete but hopefully he will think about it and wonder why this guy is logging it. If he thinks hard enough he should realised that he made a commitment and he should correct that. In the following I believe, maybe I am wrong but this is the way I do caching. 1. If I find a strange log on one of my caches then I normally ignore it. I refuse to play policeman. The game is not regulated with fixed rules. If he logged one of my caches and his name is not in the book then I will not remove the log. In matter of fact I will not remove any logs. I just hope that he was there and that he enjoyed the location. But to watch every single log for truthfulness is not my kind of game. Out of more than a 100 finds there were two strange finds and I will not cut my pulses for this. If 99 were false and one was true then I will be jumping up and down and the logs will be deleted. One must be flexible. If water flows down the river and there is a massive stone in its way the water will not stop to decide what to do. It will just flow around it. The same with caching, a false log once in a blue moon is not something that will bother me – I just pass it and I forget about it. It only becomes a problem when most are false. Until then they do not bother me. 2. The person that log falsely will eventually get tired of the game and he will drop out. I like my numbers but this is not the ultimate why I am doing caching. Just to log numbers by doing false logs will drive you to boredom at one stage or another. 3. If strange logging do occur not as an exception but as a rule then I will start to delete the false logs unless the owner can convince me that he was there for examples photos. 4. If I search for the cache and the cache is destroyed beyond recognition then I will log the find. But there must be something that represented the cache. I will normally photograph the area and the location as evidence and the remains of the cache. But again it all depends on the owner. If he wants a written log and he delete my log then I will be p*ssed off but I will accept it. It is his cache and he does beat the drum. Some cachers do not believe in this. Just recently a cacher phoned me to inform me that my cache is gone but he did find the container and I immediately recognized it. I told him to log the find and he refused. To me this is a waste of time and money. I planted a cache to show him a certain location and not to sign a logbook. He drove 200 km to this area and the cache was not there but he found the remains. To me personally it is an absolute waste of time and money and it does create a negative impact on the environment to hunt for this cache again. Face it – the next time he will sign the log but there will be nothing new for him. To me I planted the cache to show him a location and not to sign the log book as primary goal and objective. The finding and the signing of the cache is secondary. To highlight this you need to calculate the cost of about R2/km to include wear and tear such as tyres, services and the use of the capital. To drive 200 km to sign a logbook is thus at R400 effective cost which is crazy. If you found the remains of any of my caches you log the find and I will correct the cache as soon as possible. But again post a photograph as proof. If it not the remains then I will ask the cacher to remove the log but I will not delete it. If you find nothing then you log a DNF and I will investigate. In the same breath I also do not say you need to visit the location and not signing the log book. The focus is on a muggled cache. 5. As a rule if I do not find a cache I will log a DNF. But again this is also not always true – after finding about 10 DNF’s in a certain area I started to forget which ones was attempted. 6. If there is severe damage to the environment or the location I will forward it to the reviewer as a complaint. I will not enter into any e-mails to the owner as it his responsibility to ensure that damages do not occur. If maintenance was done by the owner then he should noticed the impact. Grass flattened and/or disturbed is not damage to me. Severe erosion caused by cacher footpaths is a concern but I will not complain. Damage to a monument or historical site is a different ball game. Also the location is important. If respect must be shown then I assume that the owner must be sensitive enough to incorporate that. There are certain things that I treasure as extremely important and if you do monkey business at this location and it violates a value system from me then no punches will be pulled. 7. If a cache is no good I will tell it to the owner straight forward. If your waypoint is 10 meters out and your difficulty level is one – rest assure you will hear from me in no uncertain terms. If your waypoint is out by 10 meters and your difficulty level is 2 or 3 then I will keep quiet. Maybe the owner wanted you to look at the obvious and he wanted to test your skills. The same applies to a high muggle area – do not point me to a general area in the middle of nowhere and somewhere and then expect me to find the cache. I expect that inside a high muggle area the waypoint must be accurate. 8. Same applies to a micro planted in a massive mountain of stones and rocks. It is not nice. If you plant a micro inside areas like this then you need to make sure that the waypoint is accurate. 9. As a rule I try to side step any caches with two or more DNF’s. But again I sometimes break this rule when the location is good. Then I visit the location to enjoy it and not to find the cache. Yes, I will try to find it but I will not walk away crying because I did not find the cache. There are many more to be found. 10. If I get to an area and it is not possible to hunt for the cache then I will walk away. 11. If a negative comment was published by me then I will correct it with my next visit to the area, however only when an improvement can be seen. With my last visit to a certain area I was not impressed. Most caches were not accurate and the hints… It is now one year later and I am on my way to this area. If you know me personally then you will know that I am a very straight person with no holding back. This time around I have the equipment to ensure that all data is relevant and up to date. If an improvement can be noticed then I will say well done. But if I end up with caches that are 12 meters accurate with a difficulty rating of 1 they will hear from me. Yes, they will not like it but in one year from now I will be in the area again and I will do the same. But I do this not to blow my own horn but to make it more pleasurable for others. I see several strange things in my logbooks. Just recently I noticed that some cachers are getting high scores. While maintaining my caches I do read the logbooks very carefully. The group divided in two and they searched for caches in different locations and in different directions. The one group did find some of my caches and they signed on behalf of the complete team while the other group done the same. Here I have a legitimate log but I know that half the group was missing. Do I enjoy this? – No. I planted the cache at a specific location for cachers to see. One half of the cachers never seen the cache but someone signed on his behalf. Will I delete the log? No but I will remember the name of the cachers involved. Will I publish their names? No – that is not me. I think at the end it is the cache owner that does make the rules. There are no hard and fast rules cast in concrete. If the cache owner wants to see a log in his logbook then he must state it clearly on his listing. “No logbook – no find and I will have the opportunity to delete your log if it is not done.” This will stop the issue, the owner made his ruling clear and you visit that cache with his ruling and under his conditions and terms. You side step his rules your log goes bye bye. Gerhard

Yep, send me a spreadsheet if you want. Thanks. Gerhard

Bronze Earthcache Master Visit and log three (3) or more Earthcaches in two (2) or more states/countries. Silver Earthcache Master Visit and log six (6) or more Earthcaches in three (3) or more states/countries and have developed one (1) or more Earthcaches. Gold Earthcache Master Visit and log twelve (12) or more Earthcaches in four (4) or more states/countries and have developed two (2) or more Earthcaches. Platinum Earthcache Master Visit and log twenty (20) or more Earthcaches in five (5) or more states/countries and have developed three (3) or more Earthcaches. Anton, can you query the status of the cachers that have one or more of the above earth cacher requirements? I know that RedGlobe is moving toward the final requirement and I would like to know if other cachers are attempting this. You will probably have to do 4 queries in total for each level. Gerhard

This feedback was quite informative and it gave me a lot to think about. Thanks for all the info - after two years of caching I suddenly realised that I am still a newbie with the high tech side. Quite a steep learning curve. For my trip to Cape Town I followed the following strategy. I started with Map source. My first trip is to Colesberg. I do a route from Ermelo to Colesberg. I then select all caches on this route which is close and I choose them on GSAK. Export this to a database called Trip 1. I do a manual GPX and I look careful at all listings. More than 2 DNF is a no go unless I think the cache is still there or it is good location. For example if iPajero and another cacher were there then the chance is good that it is not there if they could not find it. I have a list of capable cachers in my head and I can quickly judge if the DNF is true or not. A massive multi or a climb that is extremely difficult is not good when you have to move quickly from one point to another. I skip them. I always add additional waypoints and I target always between 15 and 25 caches for the day. If I can get to 10 or more for the day while on the run I consider it as successful. Ok, sometimes I only get 3 but in locations which is extremely good and then I spend time and I forget about numbers and caching. I also like to find caches from owners never found before and I will select these. Trip 2 from Colesberg to Cape Town was difficult and I had to select very carefully. Trip 3 is to the tonteldoos at Hildebrand and this was one hell of a nightmare. I will stay in Hout Bay View and I plotted a direct route to Hildebrand. To select the correct caches from there where a 4x4 is not needed or a steep climb up some mountain was difficult not to select. There are some good caches in this area. We will stay over for about 3 days in Houtbay. Trip 4 is to George. Trip 5 is to PE and EL. Trip 6 is back to Bloem and then back to Ermelo. At the moment I am eyeing The sentinel, Seal Island, Bacco’s look, A viking’s, Hout Bay view, The old radar station, The Boss and Blood sweat and Sandy bay for one of the days in Cape Town but the listings all warn me not go there alone because of previous incidents. The finds are very few and it does tell me a story. This is one hell of a pity as this look like a very nice area to hike in. On the other side of Hout Bay the caches is far and wide apart and the terrain look tougher. So many caches so little time. Gerhard

Anton, Thanks for the advice. It is quite interesting to see how cachers are managing the finds. I would like to know how other people are doing finds without GSAK. I assume they select on the listing the option “caches nearby”. They then transfer this to the GPS. Gerhard

Ok any comments on this method or any suggestions. Ok I done the pocket queries and it is much quicker than the method I used. But my GSAK setup is quite different. I had a problem with my personal notes that were entered on GSAK. Sometimes I will loose this data. I add additional information and the solution of mysteries in the note section. Quite recently I lost 2 of my clues on the tonteldoos series as well as a lot of other data. I then created a default database, a tonteldoos database, my own caches, my finds database and an archived database. This seemed to help as my notes is now intact. Basically I ran all new and caches that was not found by me on my default database. If I find for example 6 caches for today I will enter this on my default database and I will do a quick GPS on the 6 which is user selected and that was found by me. This will now turn yellow on the left side as an indication that it is found. I then move this from the default database back into the database called “my finds”. But I only use “User select” for a day trip. If I do a search for new caches on the web manually I will always click on “not my own” AND “not found by me”. This new caches will be added to my default database. If I run a pocket query then I will select “Not found by me” AND “not my own cache”. This will then be added to my default database. This database thus contains all caches not found by me, not archived and not my own. Now it gets very complex. I am going down to Cape Town and a total of 6 trips are planned for caching. To manage extended trips are quite complex and a lot of errors can be done. To select all of these target caches and to highlight them as user selected is one hell of a nightmare. You end up with a 100 potential caches and you have no idea which one belongs to which trip. I then create databases called Trip 1, Trip 2, Trip 3, Trip 4, Trip 5 and Trip 6. Let us say I am now busy with Trip 1. I will go to database called Trip 1 and I will enter the details when found offline in the log section of GSAk. If I am finish for the day I will now go back to the Trip 1 database and I will log it on line and I will basically just add the details of the offline log onto the listing. I then do a quick GPX on the ones that were found for that day just to ensure that no one is missed. If I am happy that trip 1 database is correct I will then transfer it to the default database. In this way I will overwrite any duplicate caches that were added to the default database with the pocket queries. I then move the found caches to my database called “my finds”. I then do a check on the total count of the caches that I have found and I compare it with the number of founds on geocaching.com. If this is correct then I am happy that all is well and no one was dropped. I then delete the trip 1 database. Trip 2 is now next on the line and I will do a quick manual GPX on the caches inside trip 2. This is to ensure that conditions did not change such as caches not available or archived. If I find caches with more than 2 DNF’s this will be removed from my list and I will add others in their place. I then restart the process with trip 2 database the next morning. The data is correct and I am ready for action. I find the cache and I log offline. I then transfer the log online when it is possible to get an Internet connection. I then verify, GPX and move it to default database to overwrite any duplicates. I then move the found caches into “my finds” database verifying the number of found caches. I learned the hard way in Port Elizabeth. The caches on GSAk were not up to date and it was all mixed up as “user selected” and I had one hell of a nightmare to find the caches in PE. I ended with about 10 DNF because the caches were not up to date in GSAK. So I bought a data stick for our trip. Now it is easy to manage the potential cache finds - for example trip 4 which is the one to PE. While driving we can run a GPX and check that they are still there. This time we should have more fun. Am I going too far or how do other guys manage their caches and how do they plan for an extended trip? Gerhard

Yep, but the output it is a surprise. I was expecting many more cachers with all the provinces on their name. The database is also pointing to where iPajero is heading the next time when the wanderlust is getting hold of him. Gerhard