Cape Town Zoo

[+Team Fido]

Hi Guys,

 

New to geocaching, but very active... (read: Addicted)

 

I was just browsing around Cape Town on Google Earth and saw the old zoo... I've never been there, but I've heard its all falling down etc. Sounds like a cachers paradise. Has anyone investigated?

 

I'm thinking of trying to get in there over the weekend. Anyone keen to join us for a walk around. If we can't get in we can just go for a walk through the forest, and maybe help some people find the elusive Fido 002 cache.

 

j.

[+Discombob]

never heard of the cape town zoo

Go ahead and place a cache there, and we'll go find it!!

 

Hey don;t guide folks to Fidos 2 yet until some more of us have given it a chance

[+bear&fox]

Agree with Bob! Give a dog a chance!

 

I went there when I was a young lad. It was quite a spectacular place. Excellent site for a cache, so we will be watching the cache listing on Monday morning...

 

Interesting tale from a friend: a friend of his decided to stroll through the zoo in the middle of night (obviously back in the days when it was still open and active). This person was dared to go into the lion's enclosure. Thinking the lions would be locked into their cages at the back of the enclosure, he climbed over the wall and dropped into their area, crossed the moat and strolled about the lawn. No doubt feeling terribly manly. Just then a lion spotted him, very much outside its cage and gave chased. He cleared the moat and scrambled up the wall with the lion in hot persuit. Made the safe side of the wall with the lion only just managing to get one lone claw in his calf muscle, which, more or less, came off his leg! His friends ruched him to hospital where he was asked what caused the injury. "It was a lion". The nurse just rolled her eyes.

 

B&F

[+Team Fido]

Cool, we wont give out any more info about fido002... We're probably heading in that general direction on saturday morning after the New York Bagel meetup... The Huskies want some help, but I think we'll just send them on their way and see what they come up with. The cache is a hard find... and you're unlikely to actually see anything "odd" that might point it out... unless you read the clue, and even then its going to be fun

[+Team Fido]

Old Cape Town Zoo Coordinates.

33°57'43.88"S, 18°27'10.19"E

 

The Lions den is about 500m east.

 

j.

[+The Huskies]

The Huskies want some help, but I think we'll just send them on their way and see what they come up with. The cache is a hard find... and you're unlikely to actually see anything "odd" that might point it out... unless you read the clue, and even then its going to be fun

 

Hay, We spend over 1.5 hours on Tuesday night looking for this cashe but sadly ran out of sunlight.

 

Don't worry, we'll find it.

 

See you all at breakfast tomorrow.

Edited March 17, 2006 by The Huskies

[+vespax]

I thought that was a SANParks structure back there. Learn something new. I have seen signs for the old zoo everyday at University and have thought what a clever spot for a cache.

 

Place and I shall find!

[+Goofster]

Hmm . . . Cape Town Zoo . . . one of my favourite places to visit as a child. The peanuts in the shells were always fresh. On one ocassion, aged about 5, I ran to the monkey cages and tripped on the gravel path, splitting my upper lip. Needless to say I saw no monkeys that day, only the inside of Groote Schuur hospital while a doctor stitched my lip back together. I drank soup through a straw for a week and nearly missed the pre-school Easter egg hunt. Aahh, good times!

 

And the recently culled Table Mountain tahrs originally escaped from this institution, if I'm not mistaken.

[+Hectic]

Any news on that cache?? Or are you still going to hide it?

[+Larks]

Ha ha! This is great! More zoo stories! I want more zoo stories!!!!

 

Sounding like fun! Place the cache! Place the cache!

 

Lets move the CITO event to the zoo!! (only joking)

[+Team Fido]

Hi guys...

 

Sorry for being so quiet, i ate some dodgy wimpy on the way out to cape agulas on tuesday and have been out of action since then... still want to do a cache at the zoo... Will try and get it done some time next week.

 

j.

[+ZAlandyman & Susieq]

I have a cool zoo story....I haven't been for years, but when we went, they had a cage with a huge gorilla!!! This gorilla stood with its' hands clasped to the cage above its' head and swayed back and forth. Attracting a crowd, we decided to see what the fuss was about. After a couple of minutes, the gorilla started to sway faster and faster and then SPAT all over the crowd!!! Hee hee, it was about a litre of spit that he must have been collecting while we were oggling the poor thing. One guy got the brunt of it though and his t-shirt was soaked. Besides for this memorable experience, I just remember feeling sorry for the animals...I don't particularly like the concept of a zoo...but I look forward to the cache!

[+adamant]

I don't have piles of documents to prove this statement, but word of mouth has it that animal research at the nearby Groote Schuur hospital during the sixties (heart transplant research days) used the baboons, and chimps from this zoo.

[+vespax]

So when is this cache being placed?

 

And does anyone know where to get a map or diagram of the old zoo?

[+Team Fido]

Ok, so really this has gone on long enough

 

We checked out the zoo and have our spot, just need to print out the cache stuff and get it done.

 

This will definitely be an interesting one.

 

Vespa raises a good point, a diagram of the zoo would be interesting although i think none probably exist. There are lots of ruins (probably broken down to keep out the vagrants) that are kinda creepy... feels very strange thinking that years ago there were probably kids running around screaming with candy floss and balloons etc... and animals... giraffes etc. Also not a big fan of zoos.

 

Maybe some of the more senior cachers (you know who you are) could try and remember what was were and let us know with coords?

 

j.

Edited May 8, 2006 by Team Fido

[+Tricky Vicky & Mickey]

We're old, but not that old ....... !!!

[+Team Fido]

We're old, but not that old ....... !!!

I said senior... Being old is a state of mind and I haven't met an old geocacher yet!

 

j.

[+Tricky Vicky & Mickey]

Thanks, Team Fido! But seriously ....... can't remember that far back!

I know we used to visit there when I was a child, which is a few years back, but can't remember much more than that - we did move to Namibia when I was about 6, and those visits most probably were before then, which is seriously long long long ago!

[+Goofster]

I need to go up there again and have a look around. Seeing the ruins might just jog my memory as to what was where. I'll try not to trip and split my lip again.

[+cownchicken]

Have a photo or two, together with shambleramble and a very pregnant cow (with one half of Baa!) if that is of any help!?

[+Team Fido]

Have a photo or two, together with shambleramble and a very pregnant cow (with one half of Baa!) if that is of any help!?

Yeah, that might be very helpful...

 

j

[+The Huskies]

Well done Team Fido.

[+Team Fido]

This cache has actually been placed but unfortunately I ran out of time yesterday to log it... Will definitely log it tonight.

[+vespax]

So.....when was this coming online? I hope to be the first to find on it. I also have plans for a cache closeby, so don't want to overshadow a great Fido find.

[+Team Fido]

I am such a bad person...

 

1. I still haven't logged this cache.

2. I sms'ed the huskies with the coordinates and they've already found it.

 

 

will log asap.

 

j.

[+bear&fox]

Hey, just SMS the coordinates to the rest of us as well!

[+The Huskies]

And there is a TB from Canada in there.

[+Team Fido]

This cache has been posted in case anyone's waiting

[+Goofster]

I enjoyed my brief trip to the zoo on Saturday after the event cache. Even though there's not much left to see except for the lion den, it brought back lots of fond memories. Thanks for the cache, dudes!