Challenge 2005

[+GlobalRat]

Well, what a year! Caching in SA has progressed in leaps and bounds in 2005.

 

There was much debate and much scepticism at the beginning of the year, but yet we managed to place 323 new caches in 2005 that remained active. This resulted in a nett gain of 269 caches. This far exceeded the goal of 100 and a potential 150 caches.

 

As expected, not to lessen the effort, WC came out tops with a massive gain of 121 caches. WELL DONE to all involved!

 

Special mention must also go to MP. In the final stretch they managed to increase their cache count 192%. Admittedly, mostly due to the efforts of one set of cachers, Fish Eagle. However since their placements, it seems a few cachers have arisen in MP and a few more caches have trickled in.

 

All in all, a fantastic effort.

 

Personally a little disappointed by the end result in GP. However, the caches were more than doubled, and this in the most densely populated part of the country, and arguably the most challenging area to place and maintain caches, so a stirling effort.

 

Hopefully the gains will continue into 2006 and beyond. And hopefully the gains are not just numbers, but that caches increase in quality and creativity. IMHO, the majority of caches in SA are of a high standard, and while we may not have the numbers, the caches are rewarding.

 

The result of the years efforts provides newbies with an excellent base to start caching and have many caches to look forward to and keep them interested in the sport and become really active cachers.

 

So finally, the summarised stats:-

 

 

A BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE TO ALL.

 

Here's to a fantastic 2006.

[+Brick]

A special word of thanks too to you, GlobalRat for setting the standard and for the initiative taken to get all these stats going. I know how precious your time is, and still you made the effort.

 

On this front, I think the rankings introduced by team QFC also help a lot of us to get our lazy bee-hinds off the office chairs and stick GPS in hand. Kudos to all involved.

[+batsgonemad and his squirrel]

[8] A big thankyou to you GB for your efforts ive only been in this a year but its been fab. look forward to 2006.

 

a thankyou also to all kzn cachers for some great hidding places, a special mention to the love rock cache

[perdix]

Hi,

 

I just want to add my thanks to GlobalRat as well. There have been quite a few attempts to "launch" geocaching in SA since I started, but none so successful as yours. Well done!!! There even seems to be a stirring here in the EC.

 

Hope you will update the stats for 2006 so we can see how the sport grows year on year.

 

While I'm at it - thanks for organising the TB race, thanks to QFC for the ranking page and thanks to Africard for the 2005 race!

 

May 2006 be the best year yet!

[+Discombob]

Well done everyone on reaching the target!

Now, mr Globalrat, we are all interested - what is the target going to be for 2006?

 

If Fish Eagle continues as he is, everyone else can stop hiding caches, and we should still reach the target

[+warthog]

Very well done to everyone on reaching the "Global" target as well as your individual targets. I am sure 2006 would be even more interesting than 2005, can't wait!!! Now to plan those trips to Mpumalanga and KZN to do some of those caches :-)

[+GlobalRat]

Hope you will update the stats for 2006 so we can see how the sport grows year on year.

I had no intention of doing so, but can do if there is some interest as I do keep the info updated and just need to publish it. Due to other commitments however it will be less frequent than it was in 2005.

 

Now, mr Globalrat, we are all interested - what is the target going to be for 2006?

 

mmmmm...well.... would it be too much to ask for 1000 active caches... a mere 78% gain ????

 

And before we get into the numbers debate again.... thankfully we've seen plenty new faces arrive on the caching scene in 2006, and some of the old folk that disappeared have resurfaced. Now, we don't want to see the reckless placement of caches everywhere... let's keep the quality high.

 

What would be nice to see is that all those cachers with loads of finds but zero hides, start hiding a few. I can also mention that in private correspondence with quite a few of the newer members, there is great keenness in placing their own caches... so hopefully we see some action, and hopefully some of the veterans nurture this keenness. The flipside is that some of the cachers that own a number of caches will start to reach their limit on the number of caches they wish to maintain, so the newbies or the "cache owner virgins" are going to have to spring into action if we want to see some new caches.

 

To put the numbers in perspective, if every cacher listed on QFC's ranking site currently, that's 142, placed 4 caches... then we'd be at 1007 caches pronto!! Obviously every cacher does not want to place caches ( ) but the numbers aren't that daunting if you look at them

 

Anyway, let's hear from the forum whether:-

1) a Challenge should be issued?

2) if so, what target should be set?

Edited January 4, 2006 by GlobalRat

[+Discombob]

Yes, lets go for 1000

Although i have decided to place one more cache I have planned, and that will be enough for me for the rest of the year, as it seems everyone else is starting to do such a good job in placing, that that will be enough to keep me busy finding!

[+vespax]

I have a couple locations that I am pondering for caches. I think if people find good spots locally, then maintaining a cache is not that hard. Especially if you only need to go a few Kilometers from home as opposed to taking a day to check on a cache somewhere. So put the creative hat on and place some nice urban caches!!! Well, my thought atleast.

 

I have to admit I was a western cape trator right at the end of the year. I couldn't resist placing a cache in Port Elizabeth while I was visiting family. So I bumped the EC numbers a bit, but there are just not enough out there, so I feel good about my effort. Sorry WC numbers.

 

Challenge..... a 1000 would be nice. I'll try and contribute some to that.

[+GlobalRat]

So I bumped the EC numbers a bit, but there are just not enough out there, so I feel good about my effort.  Sorry WC numbers. 

Without breaking the guidelines of GC.com wrt the maintainability of caches by cache owners, I think it is excellent that you placed a cache in an area which needs a few. At the end of the day, we would like to fill the whole country with caches, not just a few square kilometers.

 

I’m going to move this to a new thread to see what response we get regarding the Challenge for 2006.

 

NEW THREAD

Edited January 5, 2006 by GlobalRat