Azaruk

"Heffalump" has been taken out of the system. It has been officially logged as MISSING and is no longer available. What a shame it is that this sort of thing happens. Even if it is by "lovely fellows like Colinbo" I have also taken "What A Wonderful World" out of the playing field as it was stolen in Germany - not by a cacher, I hasten to point out, but by muggles.

Depends on placement. No-one in his or her right mind would place caches in areas where there is a chance of running into wildlife. The park or reserve management are happy to make suggestions regarding placement. It's a shame really. The last time I was up in the berg I found a cache in a beautiful spot. We did the cache thing, then spent two hours filling the back of the bakkie with bits of styrofoam from an abandoned cooler box, innuberable beer bottles, cool drink cans, chip packets and other garbage that had been tossed out of car windows with no regard for the wilderness area surrounding these 'nature lovers'! The rubbish had nothing to do with caching either. The cache was a long way off the road. The rubbish was just the usual vehicle-cleansing that a lot of our local drivers are famous for.

We use an epoxy called "Epidermix 372" for general purpose jobs, but they produce a large range of adhesives at a reasonable cost. I have no idea whether they are an international company - the tins I have show that it is manufactured locally (South Africa). The local manufacturer is a.b.e. Construction Chemicals (Pty) Ltd. Hope this helps

I have been planning a major multi cache for the berg area!!! Any idea who I get in touch with for permission? Another approach is to place the caches on property not under the control of KZN Parks (with permission, of course), as there a large number of privately owned areas in and around the berg.

Now that the TB is gone, how do I deactivate it? Is there a way of archiving a TB, listing it as inactive, missing, stolen or whatever?

My TB "What A Wonderful World", after a trip of 39 057km, has disappeared. The cache it was in at Lake Tuffy in Germany has been stolen. My thanks to Reto & Bea for letting me know and for putting up all the "missing" posters in the Lake Tuffy area in an attemp to get the cache back. What a shame - it was doing so well!!!!!

I have no doubt he's a nice guy! He's a cacher after all. But he's obviously got a 'thing' about the cute cuddly 'Heffalump"! It's not right that the TB should be held captive for so long.

My "Heffalump" TB was taken by 'Colinbo' in April this year. It is now September. I have sent numerous emails. They 'bounce' back as undeliverable. Does anybody know 'Colinbo'? If so, please get in touch with him and ask him to either give you the TB, place the dadgum thing, or post it back to me so I can start it again. This is now beyond ridiculous! If he doesn't want to play, don't take the TB!!!!! Please, someone, help if you can. Thanks

Copy of my note on Quarry Cache after Allroad informed me of the fact that it had been raided and a particularly aggressive note left in the cache. It surprises me that the cache box is intact, but the contents have been stolen, replacing them with the note! Allroad. I am extremely upset at the news about this cache. Firstly, it IS public land, and is a well known and well-used extreme 4x4 track, open to anyone with the means and the courage to try it in a 4x4. I, and everyone else I could think of to ask, have absolutely no idea who "Singh" is, although it is a fairly common name in these parts. Given that the cache itself was fairly well hidden, well out of site and fairly difficult to get to, I surmise that it COULDN'T have been discovered by accident. A few of us have our caches destroyed recently, and I'm guessing that the same thing has happened here. We either have a disgruntled cacher in our midst, or someone who has taken it upon himself to target a few of us and make our caching lives a misery. I only hope that "Singh" enjoyed the goodies he stole from the cache. I will replace it. Threats of this nature only make me more determined to go on playing the game. This time, howver it will be hidden with a touch more skill. Probably be a multi with a coded clue to the actual cache.

What I found really weird was the images of the New Germany area where the factory is situated. Talk about hi-res! We could clearly see the trailers parked in the yard and could even make out the landrover!!! Now you have to ask yourself why this area of South Africa has been 'looked' at so closely!!!

Compaq iPAQ with Navman GPS sleeve using BeeLine GPS software. Awesome combination. Don't use maps because the quality and resolution of maps for this part of the world (South Africa) are abysmal.

-- Copy of email sent to Colinbo -- Hi You have had the "Heffalump" TB for quite a while now, preventing it from moving to its destination. PLEASE, either hand it to another cacher, or place it an a cache as soon as you can. It ruins the game completely when this sort of thing happens. Susan, and her mother in Australia, are deeply disappointed over this situation. Thanks

I doubt that the unit has lost accuracy. The method of establishing a position is purely mathematical so I would imagine that the unit would either be 100% OK or fail completely. (My opinion and understanding) Make sure that your datum in the GPS is set to WGS84. Try comparing your readings with another GPSr - no need to go find a cache, do it in your back yard. The co-ords should match closely. Find an official survey point of some description - one that has accurately derived co-ordinates and check that position on your GPS. I can't think of anything else to advise you, but I'm sure others will add to this thread to get you sorted out.

I knew it! Stuck here in 3rd world Africa we will NEVER find Gold Balls here! People think its clever to leave Golf Balls though!

Quite right - and for that I apologise. We had the best of intentions last weekend to place these TB's, but unfortunately, were unable. I will be replacing them at TB Hotel today or tomorrow. We just don't have the time to give proper attention to the game at the moment. I'll post a note when it is done.

I agree with Africard. We were some of the help! And even with a fair number of us looking, searching, climbing, falling, slipping, sliding and cursing, it took a while to find! Great hide in a great location!

Just want to make a point here ....... Those of us who work for a living can only get out to cache over weekends. Often, the Saturday is spent doing the essential things needed to effectively and efficiently run the house. You know, grocery shopping, cleaning the car, sorting out the house after a week of destruction caused by kids and so on. This leaves Sunday to go caching (weather permitting). So ....... although the system flags TB's after a two week period, in actual fact, the time can be logically assumed to be two days!!!! So don't panic if it seems that TB's are being held for what appears to be a long time. They aren't really. I'm sure all players do their best, although I do agree that the TB owner should be contacted if there is a delay to let him/her know that the TB hasn't been forgotten. I would much rather know that my TB is safe and will be placed asap, than have it disappear into never-never land for ever. None of us know what other players' circumstances are .... sometimes a well-planned caching expedition on a Sunday has to be cancelled due to unforseen circumstances, something noone has any control over, and another delay is incurred. Eventually, though, the TB's will be placed and calm will once again prevail. One of ours has been out of action for months. The player who grabbed it has been out of the country on business. There is nothing we can do about it, except hope that upon his return, the TB will be moved into a new cache.

Ah Ha!!!!! It's not me going nuts!!! Looks like Susan made a boo-boo with the name - typing too fast, probably, hitting the 'l' instead of the 'k'. Whostops gets the weekly prize for spotting typographical errors in forum posts and will elevated to the status of "Commander in Chief of Swiss Army Knife Users Who Use Their Tool as an Avatar" The email must have gone to into hibernation for a while, only arriving after I had posted. I was too darned lazy to go back and edit the post! It's a cool idea though - Azaruk and Azarul, or Azarub and Azarug, Azaruf and Azarut, and so on ........ Nah ... must be 'cos it's Friday ......... we'll stick to Azaruk! Have a great weekend!!!

1. Who has got mail? 2. Who is Azarul? 3. What is meant by the question: "Any chance of seeing Azarul as a fully fledged geocacher?" Both of us are confused. What on earth are you getting at?

21 finds - 17 hides. There are not many caches here in South Africa - especially in the province we live in, so we took the decision to hide as many as we find. So far, though, finds are outnumbering hides - but not by much. And no ........ not one of them is a lame micro!!!! They are all quality caches with up-market swag. As we've become more experienced, we find we actually enjoy hiding caches more than finding them, so it's highly likely that our hides will soon outnumber our finds.

Depends on the caches!

Reading through this thread it strikes me that your caching community must be huge and anonymous. Here in South Africa we are a very small community and simply don't have the problems you are talking about in this thread, Perhaps it is because we all know each other, or at least know of each other. Or maybe it is because there are so few caches here that we simply value each and every one. I make camoflage bags to hide our caches in, tied at the top with a cord. Each and everytime the cache is placed back in the bag and tied up again. All I know is that our lot seem to be an awful lot more considerate than the cachers you are dealing with. Pity that, when once upon a time I envied the states for having soooooooo many caches to choose from. Still, all you can do...in my humble opinion ..is to play to the highest common denominator....not the lowest.

So glad to see that Kloof Falls View has been ressurected..I (Susan) of team Azaruk have not done this one so I will be visiting On a seperate note, and cross referencing from the TB thread....just in case my message was not seen there... Colinbo was the last person to handle Heffalump.....way back in April. Since then the silence has been deafening. But today I see that Colinbo was active in the forums on the 27th July 2005 Please, if anyone knows Colinbo, or has a different email address for him, let me know. I just want Heffalump back on the road. This is my first TB and it is disheartening that she has become missing in action so rapidly.

Heffalump is still missing in action, and yet I see that "Colinbo" was active in the forums on the 27th July 2005! Please If anyone knows who he is, or has an alternative email address for this cacher, please let us know. Or if you know him personally I would be so grateful if someone would intervene and just set Heffalump free. This is my (Susan's) first TB and I am simply heartbroken that he has got lost....especially since I had to painfully explain that "an elephant from South Africa was going to be dropped off by a stranger" to my mother in Australia...and that it was a game! She is still very cautious when she asks me what I have been doing lately!

I use an iPAQ 3630 pocket PC (a bit old, I know, but it works for me ) with a Navman GPS3100 sleeve. I loaded BeelineGPS (www.visualgps.net) tried it for a few weeks before purchasing the program. I don't know whether it's the sophistication of the software, the increased computing power of the pocket PC or my imagination, but this setup seems to be much more accurate than the handheld units. I have a Magellan GPS315, a Meridian Platinum and a Garmin unit. The pocket PC system outperforms all of them with regard to accuracy. I understand that there are newer models than mine out there, but have no experience with them. I'm extremely happy with what I have.