Twin Caches?

[+cincol]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is a "Twin Cache"? Is it a cache that is placed in 2 seperate places / cities / countries and BOTH have to be found to claim the cache? If so, I would be happy to "twin" with somebody in SA and we can establish a "twin cache" in SA and Qatar. Not sure how many cachers would be in a position to claim? [says I placing MY hand in the air!!]

 

Looking forward to some ideas on teh matter.

 

Happy caching

[+Durbabe]

That sounds like a brilliant idea. I'd be keen to twin. How do you see this working?

 

Excuse my ignorance, but what is a "Twin Cache"? Is it a cache that is placed in 2 seperate places / cities / countries and BOTH have to be found to claim the cache? If so, I would be happy to "twin" with somebody in SA and we can establish a "twin cache" in SA and Qatar. Not sure how many cachers would be in a position to claim? [says I placing MY hand in the air!!]

 

Looking forward to some ideas on teh matter.

 

Happy caching

[+RedGlobe]

Me and my Twin brother are both keen cachers: My team being “RedGlobe” and his team “DiePienaars” are situated in two different Cities in SA, Pretoria and Durban that is about 500 Km apart. We decided to place both a cache in the two Cities, one in Pretoria and one in Durban that can be found by two teams that act like Twins (working together and thinking together). So on the end the team in Pretoria will only log Pretoria and the team in Durban the one on that side. We do allow the teams if they visit the other town at some stage to go and found the cache (If they saved the waypoint of the other side). We are using two devices (one in each side) that the teams have to use together to solve both ends. In sort it is two caches and two teams that works together.

[+cincol]

That sounds like a brilliant idea. I'd be keen to twin. How do you see this working?

 

 

I am not too sure - perhaps we could get some ideas from the Forum?

 

How about this as an idea? As Qatar is situated 25'N and somewhere in SA one will find 25'S we could place caches at 25'N and 25'S respectively [any longitude would be fine]. In the cache description we could say that the 2 are "twinned" with each other so that the finder will know that there is a link. I would be happy to send you [or anybody keen to play along] a Qatari flag that can be placed in the SA cache and you could send me a SA flag to be placed in the Qatari cache. The objective would be that the 2 flags must exchange locations.

 

I look forward to some discussion and exchange of ideas.

 

Happy caching

[+LeonW]

Hi Cincol

 

An idea; two cachers have to find the two caches say in the same week or day, each has to take a photo of themselves with the other country's flag at the cache site and submit it as proof via e-mail to yourself to be able to claim and log the cache. Or maybe have both flags at each cache. The idea is to get finders to work together although they are separated by distance.

 

[+Durbabe]

Anybody know which town is situated at 25'S?

[+Wazat]

How far East or West?

[+cincol]

How far East or West?

 

Graskop, Marble Hall and Warmbad are all approximately 25'S

[+LeonW]

Pretoria is on S25 degrees. E028 degrees

[+Durbabe]

Ok, cincol, what size flag do you want? That will affect the size of the cache. I've got a small hand-held one, will have to buy one of those ones you wave at rugby matches if you want a bigger one.

 

I'll do some scouting this weekend for something on a S25 and will report back when I find it in terms of possible locations.

 

Have a great weekend!

[+cincol]

Pretoria is on S25 degrees. E028 degrees

 

LeonW

 

Thanks for the reply and you input. According to my GPS the co-ords of my last visit to Pretoria put Lynwood Road at approximately 25deg 46min South. The towns I have mentioned are closer to 25S I think.

 

Happy caching

[+cincol]

Ok, cincol, what size flag do you want? That will affect the size of the cache. I've got a small hand-held one, will have to buy one of those ones you wave at rugby matches if you want a bigger one.

 

I'll do some scouting this weekend for something on a S25 and will report back when I find it in terms of possible locations.

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Durbabe

 

Great - let's get this on the road then. I think that a hand held table-top size would do fine - without the stick and stand. Perhaps you could write something on the flag itself so that people can identify with it. We can co-ordinate what we write on the flags before we place them in the caches. A photograph of each of the flags being placed would also look good on the website.

 

My idea - open to discussion - is that the 2 flags must change locations with each other - Qatar flag to SA and vise versa. Further, the cache should be located in a site that will have "high" traffic and will be likely to be moved quickly. I will scout for a place near a popular tourist attraction.

 

We will need a "theme" and a name - perhaps mine could be South African Twin and yours Qatari Twin? Theme could be "Something International"?

 

As for the 25'S bit - Durban is a coastal city and so is Doha. Let us select a scenic location close to the sea as something common.

 

I am happy to do this with anybody in any country as well. Please contact me.

 

Looking forward to your's and other's ideas.

 

Happy caching

[+cincol]

Hi Cincol

 

An idea; two cachers have to find the two caches say in the same week or day, each has to take a photo of themselves with the other country's flag at the cache site and submit it as proof via e-mail to yourself to be able to claim and log the cache. Or maybe have both flags at each cache. The idea is to get finders to work together although they are separated by distance.

 

 

LeonW

 

Please give me more details about how you see this idea working? I am happy to try anything that is "different". We could look at doing this as a seperate little project. Let's throw you idea around a bit and I will be happy to be "the other end".

 

Happy caching

[+Durbabe]

Hi Cincol

 

25'S is somewhere near Pretoria, to get it close to the sea it would have to be either in Mozambique or Namibia.

 

Instead of the 25' angle, why don't we go for the D's-by-the-Sea - as in D's-by-the-Sea Doha and D's-by-the-Sea Durban?

[+cincol]

Durbabe

 

I am happy with your suggestion about the names of the caches. Please reply vis-a-vis post #12 above. In the meanwhile I am going to scout for a decent site over the weekend and then hopefully we can get out little "project" on the road by next weekend.

 

Happy caching

[+LeonW]

Hi Cincol

 

That idea of the D's at the seaside sounds great. It makes a great angle for a story to the cache.

 

The idea I had would be for each cache to contain a flag of each country. Two cachers would announce their intention to seek these caches by posting a note on the log to each respective cache. (This is to help verify the unique collaboration between two cachers.)

 

The first part of the cache hunt would take each to a unique cache that they find as a regular cache with the clue to the second cache but in the other country. By private e-mail the two cachers could then relay the info to each other, while they do log the first cache as found. Finding the second cache by using the supplied coordinates would then reveal the two country flags (10cm x 15cm) to be used in a photo of the finder holding these. Proof of the find would be to upload a photo to each cache of the respective finder. Both caches have to be found in collaboration within a period of say a week to qualify.

 

I would be happy to place a cache or a set for you in Pretoria, but I do like the D' at the seaside angle!

The problem with this type of approach is that there could be only so many unique collaborations to finding a twin, because of available cache finders. After the rush has died down you could change them to regular caches like in two years time, if it needs to.

 

I would suggest that each cacher sends a few little flags to each other to keep as repairs for these little beauty's could get "missing in action" for being unique.

 

The beauty of the idea is that the second cache is protected by the distance from the first containing the clue.

 

Enjoy the rush of developing this idea.

 

LeonW

[+cincol]

LeonW

 

I like your idea of the simultaneous logging of the cache. I have a slight problem with it though. Checking the records we have 25 caches in the entire country. On average, they are logged about 3 times per year. That leaves me to estimate that there are less than 6 regular cachers in the country. Tourism is not a big industry here so the chances of getting cachers interested in a simultaneous logging are pretty scarce. Where would we "advertise" such an event that Qatari cachers would be able to respond?

 

I would be more than happy to do a twin flag cache with you in the Pretoria area - or anywhere else - if you are interested. Or with anybody else in SA.

 

Looking forward to some discussion on the matter.

 

Happy caching

[+cincol]

Durbabe

 

I have located a decent place to stash my cache. On the Corniche [our equivalent of Durban's Marine Parade or the Esplanade] near to the sea. I have a desk top size Qatari flag and I am ready to place whenever you are.

 

I think it would be great to attach a note to the flag asking the cachers who handle it to send me [us] an e-mail indicating its progress in getting to Durban [Doha] - what do you think? This way we could "track" the progress. Once the flags have been taken the cache can revert to a "normal" cache while waiting for teh respective flags to arrive.

 

Have a great day

[+LeonW]

Hi Cincol

 

Sorry my computer's power supply had a nuclear meltdown. Hopefully fixed - we will still have to see what the fallout is like.

 

Personally, I think the twin cache idea is too early for your cacher's population. If there are only six cachers around it would mean only six real hits for the cache on your side and here. Your efforts would be better served in placing interesting caches, and I mean really outstanding caches with a double "wow" factor to them, in your country. That will create enthusiasm with the current cachers and help to promote new cachers to the sport. So the discussion I believe you need now is how to create a new life for geocaching in your neck of the woods.

 

One of my ideas for you would be to create an alternative logging requirement to these caches to help increase the amount of cachers. For instance; to successfully log a cache the old cacher would need to introduce a new cacher to the hunt. Both need to log the cache to claim a find, with special mentioning of the introduction of the new cacher. A current cacher can only use the same new cacher for three caches, then he would need to introduce another new cacher to claim the other caches.

 

This way it is possible to introduce twelve (12) new people for every six (6) caches that you place, using the existing six cachers in the country. the new twelve could introduce another twelve (12) in finding the other three (3) caches that they are introducing. Conclusion; twenty four (24) new cachers for six (6) caches placed by you. The new cachers would need to be registered cachers, so that would imply the old hands take these new guys through the whole process on Groundspeak even before of definitely after the hunt to claim the find. Taking the new cacher to three caches would help them to understand the different possibilities of hiding a cache and really hook them on the sport.

 

How to make the caches interesting? Create multi-caches where you need info from the first or second waypoint to help open the final cache. Like a combination padlock to open the cache. Numbers to the combination is provided by say two intermediate waypoints.

 

Place regular to big caches with trade items for the kids, they would keep dad on the hunt. Stay away if possible from micro, nano caches. Only adults find them interesting and definitely not after driving some distance and solving a puzzle. Place the caches in spots with a great view, with some educational value, away from muggle's but not totally out of the way at first.

 

Place Geocoins in the caches with missions to travel to all the other caches in your country. As I believe the ethical and moral standard to be very high in your country it would be safe to do so and coins create an added interest to the hunt. I would really splash out on the coins to interest new cachers.

 

As I do think of new ideas I would also add them. The original Twin idea is not bad, but with too few cachers in your country I think it is not viable as yet. I would love to be in your shoes - to have a blank slate and endless possibilities to helping this game.

 

Best wishes

 

LeonW

[+LeonW]

Could I ask for fellow geocachers to help with interesting ideas to promote geocaching by introducing new geocachers. Wouldn't we all love to have cincols opportunity?

[+LeonW]

Hi again cincol.

 

Just a request that when you use a country's flag, not to write something on the flag itself. That is disrespectful to the country. You may write something on another piece of white cloth at the bottom of the flag to convey a message. I would be upset to find a mutilated flag of any country in a cache.

[+cincol]

Just a request that when you use a country's flag, not to write something on the flag itself. That is disrespectful to the country. You may write something on another piece of white cloth at the bottom of the flag to convey a message. I would be upset to find a mutilated flag of any country in a cache.

 

Hi LeonW

 

I agree with you that is why I said a note should be attached!

 

With regards your suggestion above. I like the idea. I need to give it some thought as to how I can get the "show on the road" here. I am a fairly active member of another forum dedicated to ex-pats in Qatar. I think that I can use that forum to get people interested in Geocaching. A large majority of people here have GPSr's so I think I can drum up some support. It is just a matter of advertising the sport more. I might even contact the newspapers as well. They are always looking for something different.

 

One dare not go into the desert without a "pal" in his own 4x4, AND a GPSr. If you do you are looking for BIG trouble. Saying that, a couple of months ago a French couple were rescued by a helicopter that passed over them by chance. They had been stuck in the sand for 3 days when they were "found" by the chopper. They fortunately had food and water with them as they had intended to go camping - in a rental Toyota Camry!!!! Can you believe it?

 

In the meanwhile I am open to any suggestions from fellow Geocachers as to how we can get more support here. We need to remember that Qatar is not a big tourist destination. In fact, although the Government says they want tourists, Qatar must be one of the most difficult countries in the world to get into as a tourist! I found it easier to visit Russia a few years ago that what it is to get into this place. US, Canadian and EU (including UK) citizens have no problem. ANY other country has major hassles.

 

Looking forward to suggestions to help the sport in Qatar.

 

Happy caching