Louise_Gerhard

We always keep an eye open on any TB that is moved or placed by us. I have two that disappeared in Bloemfontein. It is no longer in the caches. These caches were never muggled so it was removed by someone. Please if you have the coin or TB please place it in a cache somewhere. It is not a collector’s item and has no value to anyone except the owner. Details below. Kokoscoot's Finland Coin Lighthouse Tag I assume that Jack1809 moved the TB. If I am wrong please accept my apology. Details below. Cache Logs July 26, 2008 by Jack1809 (45 found) found it took the travel bug will help it to Johannesburg next week Nice and interesting cache Left coin July 9, 2008 by gerhardoosMPsa (650 found) Before we moved in to find the cache we had to watch the ostriches in this area. I really would not like to argue with them about the cache. I then walked down to the cache while keeping an eye open for the ostriches; at the cache location I was startled when a “koedoe” appeared from nowhere. I was too close to him for my liking. But it was a good experience – only had to change my underpants. Thanks for bringing me here. I enjoyed it a lot and we will visit the area again in the future. Cache is in good condition and is very dry. SL. Gerhard

Up to date I was using word to create HTML files for the listings. But it is a real slap. I was wondering what tool the other cachers are using. I am now busy with Fresh HTML which is free of charge and can be found at the following link. This one is much simpler and easier to use. I am busy creating three new caches and it feel much easier. http://www.freshwebmaster.com/ Gerhard

Fisheagle, I had various e-mails from cachers to ask me what TNLNSL indicate and various other abbreviations. I normally point them to a web site explaining the terms and jargon the cachers are using. Maybe you should include this as well. I also think that the various pages relating to caching should also be included for example the geocaching shop, CF’s stats, forum, etc. Gerhard

Anton, there should be enough cachers for this event. The problem is that most of them do not log onto this forum. They only keep an eye on the listings. You have to send an e-mail to all the guys in this area. I can help you with the list. There should be about 3 guys including me and this also excludes the ones kicking and screaming while being dragged to the event. Good luck Gerhard

Eish, geocahing is tough. In baseball you get three strikes and in geocaching you only get one strike. But that is the fun part of caching. Are there any special prizes for the cacher that tried but failed? On a serious note – are you planning an event or just a hunt? Or are you planning for a “hunt event”? Cincol, I appreciate your effort and I knew it will be a nice challenge. I also know that a lot of effort is going into this. I learned a lot and I should learn something more at this event. I can only say “Thank you” and we will miss you at the hunt but we will for sure think about you while searching. By the way, should we not start with contact telephone numbers, camping site details and other info so that the cachers that want to join in the fun can plan ahead for this one. Maybe there are some cachers that want to operate a stall during this period – for example selling head ache pills, Red Bulls, Info and calming pills? Besem waar is jy – moenie dink dat jy nie daar gaan wees nie. Jy is nie verskoon nie. Thanks again Gerhard

Cincol, you are far from here but we can do things quickly. By the way could you please forward your banking details for the bank transfer – or you would you rather ruin our friendship? Or would you rather prefer a nice case of peach mampoer? In South Africa bribery is sometimes a fashion and I am wondering if it will work on your side. Eish, is that not the country where a theft could end in one hand missing? Well no matter how tough you make it you will have to publish the listing at one stage or another. The muggle that is with you – is he originally from South Africa? I would like to know his name and his title in front of his name – so I can judge the difficulty of this challenge. I have to get a couple of guys in my team if I qualify. Professor in history, specialist in the Boer wars, team of military recces for surveying the area, One IT guy with a IQ of at least 143 and a couple of guys with more than a 1000 finds – Fisheagle what are you doing during this period? When are you planning to publish the listing? Don’t tell me it is one of the surprises. Or are you planning to keep it unpublished – only for publishing after the event. If we can’t find it then me and RedGlobe will have to taste the peach mampoer - there should be enough to drown our sorrows. Can’t wait for this one. Gerhard

Some stats on the tonteldoos series. The festival will take place on 11 April 2009 at the village called Tonteldoos. Further details will be made available soon. I noticed that some cachers made good progress such as Glider Slider and Urban Hunters. Keep it going. Never say “die”. There is now 63 days left for the big one and because we have the correct date this is the truth. From now one it will be interesting to see if the heat is on and who is going through to the final ultimate cache with the big prize. The winner will have to buy one round of peach mampoer for every cacher that attends this event. If the winner refuse to co-operate then each cacher at the event will buy him one peach mampoer. No, you can not take it home – it is for immediate consumption. Option one sounds better. Average difficulty for all caches combined is 2.08 and the average terrain is 1.69. The following cachers have the following clues. Above the 15 clue mark. RedGlobe - 16, (Every 31.5 days one must be found) gerhardoosMPsa – 15. (Every 21 days one must be found) 8 Clues (Every 6.6 days one tonteldoos must be found) Urban Hunters 6 Clues (Every 5.25 days one tonteldoos must be found) DiePienaars, Fish Eagle, Wazat. 5 clues (Every 4.8 days one tonteldoos must be found) Antron, KeithWood , Strider_SA, Team Ginger, Tricky Vicky & Mickey. 4 clues (Every 4.5 days one tonteldoos must be found) Brick, Carbon Hunter, cincol, CrystalFairy, Danie Viljoen, Glider Slider, iPajero, Wessies. 3 clues (Every 4.2 days one tonteldoos must be found) adysally. Arwen_SA, besem, cache-fan, foraginghedgehogs, geocacher_coza, LeonW, Nish4, Noddy , RRoode81, Wildbirds. 2 clues (Every 3.9 days one tonteldoos must be found) Blackjack Bailey, Brahman, Cabey, cownchicken, cslyoda, dakardrix, DamhuisClan, Far-Jar-Hug, GEO936, Geo-Croc, GlobalRat, Henzz, iNokia, I&J, keithlan, krieksvh, Kwenda Megaben, Rhino and Hedgehog, sailingkatryn, Sh0w me the Cache, Slangvz, Team_Olo, The Gold Diggers, Tafuta, tommyjav, warthog, Wormgeocash. 1 clue (Every 3.7 days one tonteldoos must be found) 4x4Maniac, Alien3Inc, amaSoekSoek, Anlufu, bassdrone, battlerat and pussycat, Boff, boris, Bouts777, BruceTP, Cape_Guy, Case_ZA, Chessmate, colinbo, daantjiedonderbos, ddpisani, Dingbat, Donderbos, DRDM & Raider, Ducky and Mucky, dupmarco, Een Bez, eragonSaphira, Fulty, GreenJaM, groovy2, HAZAR, Jan van Riebeeck, Ji.Pi, jjtoymachine, Jokers Guild, Jors, jpgeocache, KarlduP, kettie, Kevin.Warren, Krazong, Larks, Littleclan, Looney Larkman, Loopylynes, Lord of Treasure Finding, LuckyEd, luckyluky, Mandrak3, Maverick & Goose, mdsmith, Milking, Mocco1301, Mouse_ZA, nuvidan2, Oz_za, PACT, pelican's briefs, Quantam Leap, ravenmeistre, River God, Robin Hills, RobSA, Shaka & Shakespeare, ShambleRamble, smurfie, snoopy12, stephannb, steve&sav, Still-Clueness, stormers, stormxjhb, tolbos, tomtwogates, Tusk O'2, Urban Campers, vzkoos, Whostops, Wilduvo, WillieLeeu, Ysbeer, yulour, Zantus. Succesfull Cache finds, excluding owners: Louwtjie (40), Vredesboom (38), Howick (24), Balmoral (19), Machadodorp (19), Groot Trek (18), Young Paul (16), Jacobs (13), Transvaal (12), Hanover (11), Paul Kruger (10), Hildebrand (9) and Battle of Majuba (9), Guerilla Taktiek (7), Savannah (5) Boekenhoudt ( 5), Bloedrivier (4), Krugerhof (3) Caches that was not found (DNF): Hildebrand (2), Krugerhof (2), Bloedrivier (1), Transvaal (1), Groot Trek (1). Gerhard

E mail is on his way. Botshabelo is close to us and we are interested if ok with you. Gerhard

Hi Wazat.

Guys, we will have this event soon. If you were watching my stats you will notice that nothing happened during January. It does appear as if there are cachers interested in this type of event. I do appreciate the feedback but at the moment I have a battle on my hands. We had an oil fire at work; our hot gas generator caught fire due to a collapsed heater coil running trough it. At present we are busy correcting this and the economic situation is not making it easy. No overtime for the repair time is allowed and we are down at present. We will accept commercial downtime while the orders are low with controlled cost. Not funny to fight an oil fire when the viscosity is so low. I lost some time on my life span and I did get more grey hairs. Some preparation work for this event was done. But to arrange this type of event is not easy. We completed an inspection of the facility that we intended to use and again we done what we are famous for. We did manage to upset the owner and we were requested to leave. We found several faults at the top carabineer and with the redundancy in the way the anchors are done. The bad news for the owner is that I will return in the next two weeks and if it is not corrected we will then phone a friend to do an official visit. Someone will get hurt somewhere in the future and it is not in my nature to ignore this. The good news is that we found a professional facility and they are accredited to do this type of training. However, I will have to carry the cost but I would love to give cachers the chance to do this type of rush. Maybe I am wrong but I believe that every cacher should know the basics of roping. If you have never done this please do not be too scared to try. I do accept responsibility for the safety of the cacher that wants to try this and I will check your equipment with every climb to make sure that you are safe. If you should fall it will be a very very short distance. We will keep the rope tight and I will watch the belayer at all times. This is great fun and it does give you a lot of confidence. Please wait for the details to follow on the listings. My family feels it is unfair to force a cacher to do a successful climb in order to log the event. So there will no restriction. If you want to go up then you do it. If you like to watch then it is ok and you can still log the event. There is one exception – if someone should fall and the person watching should laugh; guess who is next at the wall.

Brian, I will be in Pretoria on 7 Feb at about 08h00 if fine with you. It is the best I can do. This month was hectic at work. Then we can kill a bug. I just hope the bug is not too clever. Drop me an e-mail at gerhardoos@smsad.co.za if it is fine with you. It must be quite irritating. Gerhard

Brian, you are confusing me. I can not understand your problem. This is the steps and geocaching.com is not needed. You must get it going. 1. Select a cache that you done quite recently. 2. Select your log and click on your name that appears on top of the log. 3. You will now get to a page called “Profile for User”. Your username should appear as well. 4. On the top you will find “Edit my profile”. 5. Click on it and your account details will be shown. 6. You will see that your e-mail is appearing as the third item. Enter your new e-mail as shown. 7. It is now important to validate your account details. If this is not done it will revert back to the old e-mail. Maybe this is the problem. 8. Enter your password in the field below your username. 9. Go to the bottom and click “Update account”. Everything should be fine now. You now have to test your e-mail notification to see if your e-mail is functioning. Ok, you have one cache called “Glenshee” which will be visited by me this Saturday for a FTF. OK, I hear people running they are probably trying to beat me to the cache. There goes my FTF. Cat is out of the bag. Test your e-mail by doing the following. 1. Go to Glenshee, your first cache that was stashed. 2. On the right click “Log your visit”. 3. Go to “Type of log” and select “Found it”. 4. Type a short message such as “This is a test and I will wait for gerhardoosMPsa to find it and I will delete this log or else I will have a cacher with tears in his eyes”. 5. Click “Submit log entry”. 6. Open your e-mail and it should appear very quickly in your e-mail. 7. If it does not appear then the fault is not with geocaching.com but with your e-mail and your filter for spam. 8. If it does not appear then you go to www.smsad.co.za and you open a e-mail account. 9. Then redo from the top and you should be a very happy cacher. My friend I hope it works. If it does not work then I hope you stay in Gauteng. I will be there in the next two weeks. RedGlobe really want some finds on the caches to the North so I will see if it is worth it. Yes, I have his telephone number and if I battle I will phone you Mr. RedGlobe. My fee is quite cheap as I only ask one cup of coffee. It should not be a train smash. So please try the above and if it does not work then please e-mail me your home GPS waypoint and I will inform you when I will visit you to help you. Ok, I forgot I will be in Pretoria at about 04h00 and the callout fee will then be two cups of coffee. If you fix the e-mail you could save the two cups and a very early morning call. Please keep me inform, I hope you can fix this one as it sounds like a real pain. Gerhard

Bruce it was nice to read about the trip. I itch to go again. If you can I will really enjoy the photos. I am going to try to do one extreme cache in a 3 month cycle. Sometimes I do get bored doing roadside caches and there is so much more to see in the mountains. We share the same view about safety. Some of the guys can do a quick climb across the rocks but nothing and nobody is perfect. Without a rope you could run out of luck some time in the future. You can only push the limits so much. It reminds me of Dan Osman – he was probably one of the most extreme climbers of all times. He is no longer with us – he died at the age of 35. You will find two movies that describes him the best. To me this is very tragic. Little bit more than 4 minutes for 400 ft !!! Dan Osman last huge jump of his life- 1000 ft We can probably do this cache in the Drakensberg without a rope but if you get high winds, a slip or you are startled because of an insect or snake then your time could be up. Many people in the Drakensberg climbed into places and then suddenly realised that they can’t get down. I myself got stuck at a cache in Barberton – up was easy but down was not good. For a short while I was panicking. Not nice to sit on top of a rock with the sun setting and you are smoking your last cigarette working out the next move. Ok some guys will say that I am a sissy. But rather be safe than sorry. I tried to do the Weirda Bridge one at night. That was a real scary experience. I will attempt it again but with protection. I was smiling when a certain cacher was complaining about this cache as “It is unfair to females”. The truth is that that a female planted this cache and yes she beaten many a good men with this one. But you can get injured at this cache; it is quick to break a leg. You can make it safe and you can enjoy it. The cache called “Walker Texas Trading” is a good example. We climbed to the top with no protection. The next cacher made a risk assessment and brought a proper ladder with and he made the climb to the cache safe and easy. There are so many caches that need some sort of protection and I believe that one should know something about roping. Just recently I was reading an article of another tragic accident. The two guys went up in the snow covered mountain. They had all the equipment needed and they could not use it. One chap had a fall but they were roped. The chap at the top tried to get his buddy out but he could not manage it. He pulled him up for about 1 metre at a time just to loose it again. If I remember correctly he eventually dropped his buddy and he died. They never learned to make use of a simple ratchet. You do not place your life in jeopardy because of one cache. If I have a cacher with me for this cache hunt than I would rather make sure that we are both safe. This is the only way I can ensure that we sign the log together and we get off the mountain safely. We need to enjoy it; not sweating with fear. We will probably need a very short distance at the top which calls for the use of a rope for safety reasons only. It is not going to be real rock climbing. But again rather train more than less. This cache is a good one to practise the techniques. Things can go wrong and then you are going to need experience and equipment. To make it more fair and equal to the guys that has never climbed before I organized two non cachers to do the climb of 30 meters at the event. They never climbed before. One is 48 and one is a young Chinese guy of about 20. They guy of 20 is very keen and is asking questions. I have this gut feel that he has the ability to go much further. But we will see what he do at a height. This afternoon he wanted to know how high is 30 meters so we took him to a HT pylon and we showed him. I was watching him carefully for any signs of doubt. He then stated “Maybe I will scream of fear but I will still try”. To me it is a good sign and I only smiled. The climb at end of January is a good start. Climbing a wall is not the ultimate for climbing a rock face but it does teach you some little things such as the correct hold, climb with the knees, arms straight as possible and locked, balance and you do conquer the fear of height and falling. I hope to have the event published by next week. Maybe more cachers will then come along and give it a try. With this controlled climb it is easy for the guys to give advice from the bottom and they will help the climber with the next hold. At least once in your life time you need to do this. Maybe it will give some confidence to cachers. Sometimes you must face your own fears to conquer them. I am not the person that will give advice easily in a group. People do not appreciate it and they think you are a smart-a**. I was doing a hike in a Gorge near Nelspruit and I was watching at one place how cachers got across a rock where they had to use the hands. Every single person used an open hand with fingers clinging to the hold and the thumb loose. The technique is not correct. If you hang from a beam using your fingers you will get very tired quickly and your hand will slip. The fingers are weak. But if you place your thumb across your first finger you will have a lock and you will be able to hang longer onto the beam as the hold is stronger. You can use this technique for many caches such as Cache Techtonics where you have a lot of loose rock and you need to make sure that your hold is tight. A proper hold will ensure that you are safe and you can do it easily. Hanging on with your fingers only is not safe – lock the finger with the thumb and you are safe. There are many more examples of caches that will require some hand technique to secure the fingers. I actually look forward to this climb and we now have two guys for sure. Thanks Wazat. Gerhard

Thanks Cache Fan I have now one person so I can organise an event. Give me about one week to have all the details and I will forward it to you. As there are only two of us the date is quite flexible. If it is ok with you then I will publish the event during next week. If conditions should change then I will have a one man event but that is also ok. If there is only two then I will sponsor the braai. The beauty of this climb is that the family can watch and they can give or shout motivation. They can photograph the action all the way. I was present when 12 year olds were climbing this one as their first experience. One little girl was as nervous as hell and close to tears but due to peer pressure she gave it a try. The moment when she started to climb the belayer was giving her a lot of tension to help her. When she got down her face was gleaming and she was so proud of herself. They enjoyed it and they never realised that they were 30 meters above the ground. You are focussed to get to the next hold and before long you are at the top. The first part of the climb is very easy and it is at an angle inward so you are actually resting against the structure and not leaning away. But it does give you a lot of confidence. Only 20% of the distance is straight up but the holds are easy and you can go up. The climb is not meant to be for the technical experts or the gurus and matter of facts this wall offers no challenge for them. The climb is controlled and under supervision and we are not pushing limits. If you get tired but you want to go up but need time you can shout “tension”. The belayer will take up all slackness and will tension the rope and lock and this will allow you a breather and the rope will actually support you by removing some strain from the feet and hands. If you get nervous and think you are going to fall you can scream “Watch me”. The belayer will then remove all slack and he will be ready to apply the brake at any sign of falling. If the person climbing feels at any time that he reached his limit he must shout “Down”. On the command “down” the belayer will immediately remove all slack and will tighten up and wait for the climber to release the wall and he will then lower the person. This will be fun but at the end of the day you will feel confident and the fear of heights will be less as you know that all is in place to stop a fall and it does build confidence in a controlled environment. This will be the first event which will be slightly different than the rest and I hope more will give it a try. Gerhard

I am working with a plan and I hope there are some takers. We are planning to do a trip to the cache called “Just climb it.” and I would like to know if there is someone brave enough to join and/or comments and/or advice. To do this one safely you need to make use of protection equipment. If you should fall at this one then the consequences will be severe. The risk is too high. Some guys will be able to climb with no protection but I am too conservative in my approaches. Rather safe than sorry. I have some photos and reports on this peak and it is clear that I will not to do this one with no protection. I am busy organizing a good climber with a lot of experience which will lead the climb. His initial response was good. If this fails then there is another option open as plan B. This group is experienced and did climb nearly all peaks with and without equipment but this will be at a price and at a time convenient to them. At present I am waiting for a quotation for option B. Basic requirement: To do this cache you need to be able to understand roping, equipment, belaying, abseiling, cams, commands, knots, anchor points, climbing techniques, etc. You can not attempt this one if you do not understand the basics. Or that you can not handle the fear of falling or heights. Such a person adds unnecessary risk to all other persons involved in this attempt. I climbed before and I did receive training in my military days in the use of this equipment and I should be ok. The problem is that you need to know and not “I think I know". So we will do some retraining. I would like to do some more geocaching when this is found and I am planning to live a little bit longer. Action that need to commence: To test abilities and to do the preparation we will handle it in phases. First phase was the Ka-Langalabilele cache. We used this one to test for fitness and stamina and it is completed. The second phase is at the end of January 2009. A very short easy practice climb is planned. This is a real walk in the park. It is not technical – just get up to the top and down. This is basics. There are no overhangs. The focus is to get use to the equipment and the techniques involved and to build some confidence. You will climb to a height of about 30 meters and you will abseil as soon as the instructor is satisfied that you have mastered the techniques. This is done under the supervision of an instructor and which will give you the proper instructions. No I am not the instructor I am the one receiving the training. This will be done on the last weekend near Pretoria. This will quickly prove if you can do it or if fear is your master. We will attempt about three to four climbs during the weekend to see if the body can handle this and to test abilities and basic requirements. If there are enough people then I will try to organize a caching event where the requirement for logging will be to climb to the top once and to ring the bell. It should be interesting for some cachers. For February and March we will do further training under the supervision of a mountaineering club and attempt some easy climbs in real situations. We will have to join this club. In April 2009 we will attempt this cache. I personally think that this training is not a requirement but I always make surer than less. It is very tough to explain a man the basics near the top of a peak while you holding on and battling. You will do more climbing and techniques then really needed for this cache and it will give you enough confidence to tackle the cache with ease. I am sure that there are cachers that always wanted to climb with rope and equipment but never had the opportunity. This is your chance to learn something new. It is safe and you will not die. The only requirements are that a fear for height must not overwhelm you. I am also scared of heights but to the point of respect and not a choking type of fear where I freeze. I read so many times that cachers are tying ropes around their abdomen area to get to certain caches that it scares the daylight out of me. You can do it but there is a way to do this or else you can break your back and in some cases it could prove very difficult to recover the person. At least you will have the chance to see how it is done safely. My questions: 1. Is there any cacher that is interesting in doing this one with me? If the answer is no then plan B kicks in. 2. If yes, then I will send more details as required – please forward me your e-mail addresses and we will do the necessary arrangements privately. 3. Is there any person that wants to try the 30 meter climb at end of January but is not interested in going up the mountains? If I can get one more person then I will arrange an event for this one. Please let me know if you are interested. The 30 meter climb is not serious – it is easy. Do not worry – if you should fall we will halt the fall before you even realized that you were going down. This should be safe fun. Please let me know. This cache is going down. (OOPS - might be the wrong word) Gerhard

Yes, this is a real problem. I wrote to Father Christmas and the welfare for that very same problem but for some reasons they refused to answer me. The furthest one away is about 1400 km from me. That is real painful. But we doen some planning and we are going down to the final ones in March so we will get them all. I stayed home this Christmas but we will use our bonus to do a caching spree down in the Cape. I also hear some mountains calling my name that side. RedGlobe is the only other person that is very close as he has two to go. He should get it in the next month or two. Urban Hunters is busy and I know that they found Amajuba and Bloedrivier and they probably found the one in Howick and in Durban as well. We will have to wait for their logs. They will also battle with the ones in Cape Town. The only solution which I can see is to hook up with three or more cachers and share the cost of going down. It can be done during a 3 day trip. I personally think only 3 to 5 people will make it to the final one at the town Tonteldoos. But even after the event the tonteldoos series will continue and some time in the future more will find all of them and they will be able to hunt for the ultimate one. I can not comment too much on the rules as the tonteldoos committee has agreed on them in the beginning and that is fixed and will not be changed. Hulle se ‘n boer het altyd ‘n broek vol planne. I hope you find them all and that we see you at the final at Tonteldoos – maybe other cachers have a solution. Any suggestions? Gerhard

Welcome at the forum. I am getting worried. One of these days we will be a real minority group. It looks like everybody is leaving. I stayed in the Reeds in Ida Ave before I moved to Ermelo. It is quite peaceful this side except when the people with GP on their number plates do their normal stampede to the coast. I hope your guys enjoyed it and if there is any questions please feel free to ask them. Gerhard

Well done to Wazat and Blackjack Bailey for visiting Ka-Langalibalele. I received a phone call this afternoon at 13h00, confirming that are at the top. I will wait for their logs. But it was great to hear that they were there. Well done guys and I hope you enjoy it. Yes, they also had the chance to see the chopper. Wazat tried to get it started for a quick descent but it will be nicer to walk down. Gerhard

I learned to stay away from newspapers. This is like meeting a pack of wolves. You do not get out of it in own piece. I loved my hike and that was my satisfaction. Geocaching has taught me to stay away from choppers on mountains. According to my friend the pilot it does happen that one looses the lift at that height. I just hope the guys flying up the mountains realises this. I am going back to this area in April to discover more – I think there is much more at that peaks to see. I also would like to see if I can get to the caves as indicated on my trip log. About 3 years ago I was standing on that other peak of 3400 meters and I could see it and it made me itch. I want to go on top again. Guys, I have 3 calcified vertebras and I have gout in my right foot. If you read the report on the medical condition of my back you will be shocked. They wanted to put pins in my back and I refused. If a cripple like me can do it in one day then you have a much better chance to do it. The only other thing I have is that I can dig deep if the going gets tough. It is all in the mind. When are the others going – do not let this cripple beat you. I will give feedback on the 5 Jan or as soon as the info is send to me. Gerhard

Cincol, I did not want to comment on this one. I did note this but you open the box but you touch a very interesting point and I can see that your mind is racing. You are very analytical. Known facts. 1. Chris Williams is a “Crash and accident investigator from CAA. (civil aviation authority) 2. He confirmed the accident which was indeed reported on 16 December 2008. 3. He will comment on 5 January 2009 on the reasons of the crash. 4. No rust marks were noticed at the crash seen on any component inside or outside; there were no leaves, grass and/or excessive water due to rain inside the cab. If this was the same crash scene as on April 2008 the condition would not be the same. 5. Normal procedure is to remove the plane as soon as possible to investigate the rotor failure. 6. The photo of the glass taken at the scene clearly shows that it is on top of the grass with no grass growing into it or around it. There are no marks or dirt or any sign of it been dumped for nearly 8 months. 7. The battery is still inside the side where you do some of your pre flight checks such as oil levels. In Lesotho this is the first thing that goes missing. Leave your vehicle alone and when you return 30 minutes later the battery could be gone with no trace of any person in the area. I did check out of curiosity. 8. No stripping of the chopper took place. Nothing is disturbed. What is so funny to me is the fact that this chopper belongs to Giants Castle and yet the ranger knows nothing of the crash- even 11 days after the crash he still have no idea. Surely if you have R3 million on a peak you will make sure that the relevant people know about it - especially the person in charge of the area. If it was my chopper guess where some of the rangers would have spent their Christmas. If this is indeed a second crash then someone is in real trouble – maybe I was in the wrong place and in the wrong time at the wrong location. It is also very clear to me that this plane had the same failure than before and that they will have serious problem with the insurance guys. Maybe this will be a good story for the newspapers if this plane crashed twice due to rotor failure in 8 months and they are transporting visitors up and down the mountains at regular intervals. I remember the time when Samora went down close to the 60 km mark at the electrical fence between South Africa. We were operating in that region between South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique after his death. We were there about 2 months after the crash and you still could pick up small pieces of the frames and very small parts in that area against the hill. Close to this area is an access point which is used by the villagers to cross into Mozambique. It is a little bridge under the electrical fence. I have no idea if the conditions are still the same. There is a little village close by and it was a hot spot of real trouble. The old LM radio station was located in Mozambique on top of the hill but it was full of holes. Some white catholic woman operated in this area as well. We had the chance to see the plane. If I can remember correctly we visited Komati where the plane was stored. It was quite amazing to see the plane. Everything was packed out in the hanger. Every part was placed where it belonged. The details were unbelievable. If I compare the two crash sites then there is no doubt in my mind – this chopper went down very recently. I will wait for 5 January for the official story but I can’t wait to hear this one. They can’t cover this one as more than one person has reported it. Wazat the group is growing. Jors and his friend is also joining. When are we going for the stroll? Gerhard

You can count me in - as long as we stay away from "Just climb it. I wanted to plant some caches at Giants Castle but I will wait for the outcome on the KNP issue. Gerhard

This is weird. It crashed in April and it crashed again on 16 Dec. I guess it is safer to walk. I am glad I do not have to explain this to the authority or to the insurance guys. Gerhard

Ok, mental note to myself. Never speak to a pilot again that is really confusing. He explained many things but I do not understand. He explained to me the procedure if lift is needed and suddenly you lost it – it is quite freaky to hear how they cut power and they go into an auto rotate. My mind is saying more power. I showed him the photos of the Robinson R44 and then I received very hard words from him. His words are “Never assumed that they are ok or that they are rescued, you need to confirm and you need to report the accident”. He showed me the procedure to switch on the radio, leave the master switch out of the equation. That is easy for him but I would rather walk 20 km then to fiddle with switches and set the plane on fire. It could cause a lot of explanation to the authority why the plane was burned to the ground. The alternative procedure is much easy to remember. You need to take the GPS waypoint of the aircraft, you then need to phone the nearest or any manned airport. Oribi is the nearest airfield in the area. According to him this pilot was or should be in possession of a commercial license as it is obvious that passengers were carried. If he was flying passengers around it is a legal obligation to file a flight plan with the nearest manned tower. You can also contact www.caa.co.za and you then need to click on “Contact us” on the right hand side of the page you will people on standby. We reported it to Chris Williams who is an accident investigator. He confirmed that the crash was reported on 16 December 2008. The passengers was shaken and the pilot received minor injuries and they were air lifted very quickly. The hikers that were on this mountain two days before me thus lied about being on top and they were caught out. Liar liar your pants are on fire. This accident investigator will release more information when he is back at office on the 5 January 2009. It should be interesting. The seats that were cut are not normal standards. The authorities will never allow broken or cut seats. The seats were cut after the accident or during the accident. There is no blood so it was done after the accident. According to him the pilot will cut the seats after such an accident to make the seats unattractive so that people will not steal it. The pilot will not allow glass inside the chopper – there is a little compartment on the side they use. Only one glass was found at the site and this glass is broken, he used the glass to cut the seats. He estimates the value of the plane around R3 million rand and you do not leave such an accident scene unguarded. My friend studied the instruments for a long time and one thing that I remember is that he stated that the accident occurred on take off. One of the pre-flight checks is to set the compass bearing towards direction of travel. The compass bearing is set for east. He was flying east and picked up trouble or he was on his way from that point. My friend said that all pilots must receive training in mountains as the conditions are completely different. To get the fuel mixture correct is tricky at that height. It is easy to lift off and suddenly you can run out of lift and you can come down quickly. According to him the first 10 meters is the critical part and with the hot air rising from the pass could indicate trouble. Also it does concerned him is that no glass particles were found inside the chopper, the impact came from the inside to the outside. I asked him if the skids were the cause. The answer was it is not likely. The skids is part of the safety cell, the chopper is build onto this cell and frame. It is emphasizing the power of the impact and how fast the pilot took it down. I also did not know this but you can not hit the ground with the tail rotor. The part that protects the tail rotor is now nearly under the chopper. To him that is an indication that the chopper was spinning and that the tail hit the ground first with impact and then the rest came down. When I saw the chopper I first thought the cache owner was really nice for such a big container. Only then I start to realise that people could be injured. I had no cell phone reception in the pass and that made me really worried. That was the moment when I started to calculate how one can share 1 disprin between 4 people. It is amazing what caching can show you. Geocaching never fails to bore one. At Herrie’s in Meiringspoort I found an unknown bottle dating back to early 1900’s and here I found a chopper. Ok, with the bottle I have a slight problem - the museum in Oudtshoorn asked me to donate it. So I have to take it back sometime. I think my point is getting through. We have such a lovely country with so many nice walks. For example Warthog’s Kliprivier caches. A location with no access fees but you can walk in the reserve and yet so many are not doing it. When I sat down in Giants Castle for breakfast I mostly meet foreigners. We should not have so many unfound caches in mountains. Look at Matata’s caches. Lovely area and it need a little bit of walking but you can go and enjoy it. Our forefathers walked across the mountain bear footed but we struggle to walk with our cosy sleeping bags and fancy backpacks and nice energy potions. Maybe we must hold an event of a different kind. My gut feeling is that there are people that want to do caches in nature but they lack the confidence or the skill to enjoy it and to start doing it. I exclude herby many cachers that do have a love for mountains and walks in nature. You can not preach to the converted. Maybe we should hold an event and get a guru from one of the mountaineering clubs to introduce some of the aspects. Hold an event where everybody can learn something knew. Choose one of the easy walks in Giants Castle as a test. The first question my wife asked was “How many snakes did you see on your 29 km trip?” My answer was none. So I asked my wife what you do if you meet a snake. She could not answer this one. Guys I hope I got some itching back on the feet and I hope to see more logging on caches in nature. It is so nice to do these walks. There will come a time when we are to old to do this and it is now the time to enjoy it. Yes, I forgot one thing. I carried my passport all the way up to the cache nicely sealed in a plastic bag as this cache is inside Lesotho. I still do not agree with Jors but we did agree to disagree. You do not need your passport. I also confirmed with Giants Castle. I will wait for the log from Wazat and Blackjack Bailey. I know that Ysbeer will do this as well as Rhino and Hedgehog. Do it as a two day trip – then it more enjoyable. There is crystal clear water and it is enjoyable. If you need to see the chopper you must go up quickly – they planning to lift it during January. Gerhard

There is a chopper pilot that is coming around tomorrow at 10h00 for coffee. He is busy tracing the owner. He is keen to look at the position of the chopper and the photos of the instruments. He even simulated the crash of Hansie and showed me the final report which is too technical to understand. All I understand that there was no way out. He could share some light as he flew this kind of chopper before. Maybe my log is reflecting negative. This is one of the best hikes I have done. I tried to sketch in my log how quickly conditions can change on this mountain. It can be sunny and warm as in my case and suddenly things changed. I hope it serves as a lesson. The core of my log is “Be prepared”. It can even snow in the mountain at that height – even in December. The wind speed at one stage was about 30 km/hrs and the chilling factor was severe. I hope cachers will be ready if conditions do change. It is statistically speaking safer on this mountain than in Newcastle itself. I speak under correction but I think about 55 people died on these mountains in the last 100 years of which most were falls and slips which most could have been prevented with some training and experience. To me that is the sad part. Most people think because they walked on a pavement before and that they are fit that they are qualified enough to do walks in the mountains. Maybe some knowledge will add some sound confidence to some cachers and maybe they will discover a new world. Maybe they will visit more caches in the mountains. I included a hyper link to full details on hiking information on one of my caches called “Outeniqua Mountain Cross”. It could help somebody and it does add value to anyone doing walks. It even help explaining basic roping which is a must know issue. One day you could need this. You can never have enough experience in the wild and you will never be a master. That day you are one fool. I hope someone will read the information and that it will help someone some day. The cache is not just about the walk. I spend another day in this area. There is so much history involved in this area that it is quite absurd that there are not more visits. The cache is about the British, Basotho and the San people. Main cave is close by and it is worth a visit. There are about 500 different paintings inside this cave. On your way to this cache you will also find Rock 73 which was carved by the cook of Regiment 73 about 130 years ago. The area is fantastic with good views. Only the last part is a real challenge. But it is worth it. To enjoy it one need to go up and stay on the mountain for a day or two. This will remove some of the punishment. But I did see many flowers, waterfalls and the water is crystal clear as there are no settlement areas upstream. I even brought some water home. At the end of the day it is not about the cache but what the cache is showing you. I climbed around in this area and there are some wonderful places which I would like to explore more. I will be back in this area. If one compares this location for example Monks Cowl then you will find that Monks Cowl is actually more severe with his chain ladders. Here you can walk and enjoy. This is also a good place for an event. There are shorter walks - one is about 1.5 hours long. Entrance is R25 and you can go and walk for the day, not a bad price. Ok, I will keep this cache as a Lesotho cache. Jors, when are we taking the surveyor up this mountain?

Ok, this is a little bit confusing. Ka-Langalibalele was the oldest unfound cache is South Africa. It all depends on the map you use. If you use google maps you will find the cache in Lesotho. If you use the 2008 maps from Garmin then it is just inside South Africa. While I was at the cache you could clearly see the international border on the GPS. I also confirmed the area with the reserve and yes according to their description it is inside South Africa and part of Giants Castle. So the Google map is not correct. You can also verify the waypoint with map source and you will note that it is inside RSA. The chopper that went down here is also inside RSA. I will upload photos later to the cache. Gerhard