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Statistics - bend it anyway you like!


Carbon Hunter

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South African Statistics:

 

No. of active caches:         9430		
Cache density:                77.2 caches/10000km2
Avg. distance between caches: 12.2km
Densest 1km radius:           GC3WDXM - MEGA SA 2012 – Protea caffra: 34 caches (10.8 caches/km2)
Densest 10km radius:          GC4P956 - Leonie:                      646 caches (2.06 caches/km2)

One cache for every 5618 persons

Farthest point from a cache:  S30° 09.138' E20° 34.813': 161.27km from the nearest cache 
Most isolated cache:          GC1V1G4: Springbokpan      153.81km from the nearest cache
Centroid:                     S29 13.290 E26 41.972 (closest to GC1P0G1: Rustfontein Yacht Club)

Average age of active caches: 2.86 years
Median age of active caches:  2.38 years

Total no. of finds:           531003
Finds on active caches:       426980
Most finds:                   iPajero:                        8113 finds
Most found cache:             GCMYYZ - Table Top Trove:       772 finds
Most favourite points:        GC31WXR - Table Mountain Travel Bug Hotel: 157 FPs

Cache planter with the most favourite points (active caches): paddawan: 474 FPs
Most (active) caches planted:                                 Louwtjie&Vroutjie: 265

Ratio of Finds to Favourite points (active caches):           25.3
Average no. of finds per active cache:                        45.0
Average no. of finds per year per active cache:               15.7

Total no. of cachers:                                         13239
No. of cachers during last 12 months:                         5386 

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Most isolated caches in South Africa:

 

The distances are to the next nearest cache:

1.  GC1V1G4 - Springbokpan, Northern Cape                       138.48 km
2.  GC4JA4A - Kalahari Sands, Northern Cape                     133.49 km
3.  GC1DGTW - Tonteldoos XVIII - Hanover Foxhole, Northern Cape  61.03 km
4.  GC3QJ0H - Carnarvon se Blikkantien, Northern Cape            60.88 km
5.  GC19AR7 - Wild animals, Northern Cape                        60.08 km
6.  GC2RNBH - Modern Art Projects South-Africa, Northern Cape    56.33 km
7.  GC2B1EJ - Nossob River, Northern Cape                        49.59 km
7.  GC4J773 - Calcrete of the Kalahari, Northern Cape            49.59 km
9.  GC2GPD7 - Battle of Doornkraal, Free State                   48.56 km
10. GC20F0J - Lebombo's Rhyolite, Mpumalanga                     45.12 km

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Most isolated caches in South Africa:

 

The distances are to the next nearest cache:

1.  GC1V1G4 - Springbokpan, Northern Cape                   	138.48 km
2.  GC4JA4A - Kalahari Sands, Northern Cape                 	133.49 km
3.  GC1DGTW - Tonteldoos XVIII - Hanover Foxhole, Northern Cape  61.03 km
4.  GC3QJ0H - Carnarvon se Blikkantien, Northern Cape            60.88 km
5.  GC19AR7 - Wild animals, Northern Cape                        60.08 km
6.  GC2RNBH - Modern Art Projects South-Africa, Northern Cape    56.33 km
7.  GC2B1EJ - Nossob River, Northern Cape                        49.59 km
7.  GC4J773 - Calcrete of the Kalahari, Northern Cape            49.59 km
9.  GC2GPD7 - Battle of Doornkraal, Free State               	48.56 km
10. GC20F0J - Lebombo's Rhyolite, Mpumalanga                 	45.12 km

 

The toughest challenge in South Africa!

Who has found most of them? Will it be the iCachers from the Eastern Cape or not...?

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Who has found most of them? Will it be the iCachers from the Eastern Cape or not...?

Interesting, they are all from the Western Cape:

Hesamati:  	        5
battlerat and pussycat:	5
cownchicken:	        5
AndyT1:	                4
The Huskies:	        4
Tricky Vicky & Mickey	4

 

Average number of finds per year for the 10 most isolated caches in South Africa:

GC4JA4A	Kalahari Sands	                     0.00 finds/year
GC1V1G4	Springbokpan	                     1.16 finds/year
GC19AR7	Wild animals	                     3.88 finds/year
GC3QJ0H	Carnarvon se Blikkantien	     4.76 finds/year
GC2GPD7	Battle of Doornkraal	             5.40 finds/year
GC4J773	Calcrete of the Kalahari	     5.68 finds/year
GC20F0J	Lebombo's Rhyolite	             8.62 finds/year
GC2RNBH	Modern Art Projects South-Africa     9.94 finds/year
GC2B1EJ	Nossob River	                    13.72 finds/year
GC1DGTW	Tonteldoos XVIII - Hanover Foxhole  15.56 finds/year
Average for South Africa:	    15.70 finds/year

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Most difficult finds:

 

The following cachers have found the most of the 149 active South African caches which have a Difficulty or Terrain rating of 5:

1.  AndyT1:	            78 finds
2.  iPajero:	            64 finds
3.  cownchicken:	    59 finds
4.  paddawan:	            54 finds
5.  The Huskies:	    54 finds
6.  Henzz:	            53 finds
7.  Zambesiboy:	            50 finds
8.  terunkie:	            45 finds
9.  TechnoNut:	            30 finds
10. battlerat and pussycat: 25 finds

 

And for Difficulty or Terrain of 4.5 or greater (298 caches)

1.  AndyT1:	           129 finds
2.  iPajero:	           113 finds
3.  cownchicken:           107 finds
4.  The Huskies:            93 finds
5.  paddawan:	            90 finds
6.  Henzz:	            89 finds
7.  terunkie:	            84 finds
8.  Zambesiboy:	            80 finds
9.  TechnoNut:	            53 finds
10. hovelj:	            43 finds

Edited by Danie Viljoen
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Most active cachers in November:

 

The following cachers have found the most South African caches in November 2013:

1.  iPajero:	   458 finds
2.  Fish Eagle:	   455 finds
3.  ClodsM:	   264 finds
4.  GorNat:	   241 finds
5.  JanMich:	   207 finds
6.  HeinG:	   187 finds
7.  dolos:	   181 finds
8.  K.T.C.:	   174 finds
9.  Jors:	   155 finds
10. Chris'nDenise: 134 finds

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Most active cachers in Africa:

 

For the year 1 Dec 2012 to 30 Nov 2013:

1.  iPajero:	    2263 finds
2.  Thedivespot:    1681 finds
3.  GorNat:	    1378 finds
4.  The Huskies:    1264 finds
5.  JanMich:	    1259 finds
6.  ferdie.estelle: 1077 finds
7.  TechnoNut:	    1026 finds
8.  dolos:	     979 finds
9.  paddawan:	     952 finds
10. tojoliveira:     929 finds

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2013 Statistics:

 

2893 new caches have been published in South Africa during 2013. This gives an average of almost 8 new caches per day, and is a new record.

 

CachespublishedinRSA.jpg

 

Of these 2893 caches,

2315 (80%)   were Traditional
293 (10.1%) were Mystery
138 (4.8%)  were Events
 86 (3%)    were Multi
 30 (1%)    were Earthcaches
 15 (0.5%)  were CITO
  2 (0.1%)  were Wherigo

Of the 2893 new caches,

1248 (43.1%) were Micro
892 (30.8%) were Small
144 (5%)    were Regular
 37 (1.3%)  were Large
285 (9.9%)  were Other
287 (9.8%)  were Not chosen

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Top cache planters in South Africa in 2013:

 

1.  weeman078:	     133 caches
2.  FiddleTwigs:      71 caches
3.  TechnoNut:	      60 caches
4.  PieterM:	      59 caches
5.  eksteen:	      48 caches
6.  family Behrens:   43 caches
6.  Puzzled Penguins: 43 caches
6.  LegoMikey:	      43 caches
9.  Snuffeltuffies:   42 caches
10. HeinG:	      39 caches

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Most found South African caches in 2013:

 

1.  GC2GG2C  Nobel  Square:	                              291 finds
2.  GC31WXR  Table Mountain Travel Bug Hotel:                 256 finds
3.  GC2CG7X  Hiddingh Security TB Hotel:	              168 finds
4.  GC2X329  Stellenbosch TB Lodge:	                      142 finds
5.  GC2D9WC  SS: Lusitania:	                              133 finds
6.  GC2JMX3  Gate to knowhere:	                              131 finds
7.  GC37VF3  Tip of Africa:	                              122 finds
8.  GC2AA8R  SS: RMS Athens:	                              119 finds
9.  GC3G9YQ  Mother City Meander Series - Company Gardens:    117 finds
10. GC3G9Z8  Mother City Meander Series - Mount Nelson Hotel: 114 finds

The first non-Western Cape cache comes in at position 27 with 90 finds

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At the end of 2013, there were 9910 active caches in South Africa. During 2013, only 353 of the active caches (3.6%) have not been found at least once.

 

The average number of finds per active cache during 2013 was 14.8

 

During 2013 a total of 5809 cachers found a total of 154402 caches in South Africa, for an average of 26.6 finds/cacher.

 

Of these 5809 cachers, 1806 were "active", in the sense that they found an average of at least 1 cache/month during 2013.

Edited by Danie Viljoen
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Number of new caches in 2013, per province:

 

Province      End 2012  End 2013  New  % Increase
KZN	        1868	  2641	  773	  41.4%
Gauteng	        3272	  4002	  730	  22.3%
Western Cape	2377	  2924	  547	  23.0%
Eastern Cape	 956	  1444	  488	  51.0%
Mpumalanga	 992	  1144	  152	  15.3%
Free State	 691	   775	   84	  12.2%
North West	 394	   460	   66	  16.8%
Limpopo	         410	   445	   35	   8.5%
Northern Cape	 191	   209	   18	   9.4%

 

KZN had the largest increase (773) but percentage-wise the Eastern Cape grew the most with 51%.

(These numbers include all caches, including archived ones.)

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Number of new caches in 2013, per province:

 

(These numbers include all caches, including archived ones.)

 

Thanks Danie, as always, intersting stuff.

 

Is it possible to look at the above slightly differently?

 

e..g: # of ACTIVE caches at end of 2012 and 2013 by province.

 

TIA

PT

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Where did we cache the most during 2013?

 

   
  Province   Finds (2013) Increase
1. Gauteng        52592	     35.7%
2. Western Cape   41196	     34.7%
3. KZN	          24418	     45.7%
4. Eastern Cape	  14184	     63.5%
5. Free State	   7413	     30.8%
6. Mpumalanga	   6916	     28.2%
7. North West	   4425	     32.8%
8. Limpopo	   1900	     19.6%
9. Northern Cape   1258	     36.1%

  South Africa	 154402	     37.0%

I was surprised to see that Gauteng got the most finds, seeing that the Western Cape dominated the list of most found caches. (80% of the top 100 are in the Western Cape.)

 

Something interesting is happening in the Eastern Cape - a massive 63.5% increase during 2013!

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Is it possible to look at the above slightly differently?

 

e..g: # of ACTIVE caches at end of 2012 and 2013 by province.

Unfortunately it is almost impossible to determine the number of active caches at a specific time in the past - caches get archived and unarchived all the time, and the very old caches do not even have publish logs. For this reason I have started to periodically record the numbers of active caches for the three big provinces, but only since a few months ago.

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Number of active caches per African country:

(As on 2 January 2013)

1.  South Africa       9933
2.  Canary Islands     1350
3.  Madeira	        930
4.  Namibia	        245
5.  Egypt	        240
6.  Zimbabwe	        148
7.  Morocco	        128
8.  Kenya	        118
9.  Tunisia	         94
10. Reunion	         90
11. Tanzania	         73
12. Swaziland	         69
13. Botswana	         54
14. Mauritius	         47
15. Seychelles	         39
16. Mozambique	         33
17. Cape Verde	         32
18. Zambia	         25
19. Uganda	         24
20. Angola	         21
21. Lesotho	         20
22. Ethiopia	         18
22. Gambia	         18
24. Malawi	         17
25. Djibouti	         15
25. Ghana	         15
25. Senegal	         15
28. Madagascar	         12
29. Saint Helena	 11
30. Algeria	         10
30. Libya	         10
30. Mali	         10
33. D.R.C.	          8
33. Nigeria	          8
35. Mauritania	          7
36. South Sudan	          6
37. Sao Tome and Principe 5
37. Sierra Leone	  5
37. Sudan	          5
40. Congo	          4
40. Gabon	          4
40. Niger	          4
43. Ceuta (Spain)	  3
43. Burkina Faso	  3
43. Cameroon	          3
43. Equatorial Guinea	  3
43. Rwanda	          3
43. Togo	          3
49. Benin	          2
49. Ivory Coast	          2
51. Melilla (Spain)	  1
51. Burundi	          1
51. Chad	          1
51. Eritrea	          1
51. Guinea	          1
51. Western Sahara	  1

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Here is an interesting one - I was curious to know what and where the smallest circle is which includes at least half the active caches in South Africa. It turns out to be a circle with a radius of 274.51km centered around GC11VRF - April Fools Gold Cache, close to the border of Natal and the Free State. This is not in a particularly cache-dense area, but it is equidistant to Pretoria, Johannesburg, Nelspruit and Durban. The area of this circle is less than 18% of the area of South Africa.

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Number of cachers per province:

 

  Province      2013  All Time

1. Western Cape	 2580	 7195
2. Gauteng	 1974	 5106
3. KZN	         1246	 3190
4. Eastern Cape	  992	 2420
5. Mpumalanga	  804	 2287
6. Free State	  689	 1760
7. North West	  597	 1681
8. Limpopo	  393	 1323
9. Northern Cape  325	  973
  South Africa	 5809   14421

So although more finds have been logged in Gauteng, the Western Cape had more cachers during 2013. I suspect it is a tourist effect.

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Of the 5809 cachers who logged at least one find in South Africa during 2013, only 2193 (38%) have cached in South Africa before. In other words, 62% of the cachers started in 2013.

 

2013Cacheragedistribution.jpg

 

(This graph shows the caching experience (in years) of all cachers who found at least one cache during 2013.)

Edited by Danie Viljoen
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Caching career length:

 

The early fall-out rate for new cachers is very high. The following graph illustrates this:

 

Careerlength.jpg

 

What this means is that 32% of all South African cachers quit after their very first day (first bar on the graph) and another 12.8% stop caching within their first week.

 

Another way to look at this is the following graph, which shows the attrition rate:

 

Attritionrate.jpg

 

This shows that 72% of all South African cachers don't make it past 6 months, and 79% quit caching within a year.

Only 10% make it to 2.5 years, and 1% continue caching for 6 years.

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Caching career length:

 

The early fall-out rate for new cachers is very high. The following graph illustrates this:

 

................................ {SNIPPED}

 

This shows that 72% of all South African cachers don't make it past 6 months, and 79% quit caching within a year.

Only 10% make it to 2.5 years, and 1% continue caching for 6 years.

 

:(:(:( Very sad from a growth point of view of the sport. However, if this is compared to - say 3-5 years ago - it might show a different story. I think :unsure: that the advent / proliferation of smartphones might be the culprit here?? Many people might "experiment" with their smartphones and then fail to continue caching. Perhaps "success rate" is another issue. :unsure: If They have a couple of DNF's they might become despondent? Either way, the stats from Danie are ALWAYS interesting albeit always open to interpretation - as is the case here with MY interpretation. :P It would be great if we could somehow reverse that stats with a 72% SUCCESS rather than attrition.

 

BTW, I don't think the figures would be very different here in the Middle East either. We see "new" names in the logs every month only to never see them again. :blink::(

Edited by cincol
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Many people might "experiment" with their smartphones and then fail to continue caching. Perhaps "success rate" is another isuue. :unsure: If They have a couple of DNF's they might become despondent?

I have been wondering about the reasons as well. Caching tourists will form part of the early quitter group. How big, is anybody's guess, but I suspect it is less than a third.

 

I don't think DNFs are to blame - very few of the early quitters have logged any DNFs. (That unfortunately does not mean that they did not have any DNFs - all too few cachers log them, in my experience.)

 

I blame the proliferation of boring micros for this. I vividly remember the thrill of finding my first cache - an interesting photo puzzle cache with a big container with lots of stuff. I wonder if I would have continued if it was a leaking pill container on a road sign...

 

On the other hand, how many active cachers do we really want in South Africa? With more cachers come more cache maintenance and more caches. (The total number of caches appears to correlate with the total number of cachers.)

Edited by Danie Viljoen
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Caches versus Cachers:

 

This graph shows the ratio of available (active) caches to cachers in South Africa, over the last few years. (Unfortunately I do not have the numbers of active caches earlier than 2008.) It appears as if the number of cachers grows at roughly the same rate as the number of caches.

 

Activecachesvscachers.jpg

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Best caching karma:

 

A person's caching karma is defined as the ratio of the number of finds on caches he owns, to his own number of finds.

 

The ten cachers with the best karma in Africa are:

1.  Geo_TUMa:	    1522
2.  Captain Zarco:  1494
3.  Ford Z Consull: 1096
4.  cleems:	    1010
5.  dampfjojo:	     881
6.  lawinberg:	     806
7.  Teamnegativ:     791
8.  davidre:	     791
9.  gschwanz:	     740
10. miksyn:	     670

Almost all of these are cachers who live in Europe, who have found a single cache in Africa and hidden one or two (popular) caches here in the early days of caching.

 

The following list is probably more meaningful - it only includes cachers who have found at least 50 caches:

1.  Ballangen:	  119.58
2.  PRIMUS CACHER: 68.89
3.  m*sh:	   55.20
4.  Team Marzipan: 48.08
5.  penolhunter:   45.90
6.  lschmuhl:	   45.52
7.  ferofero:	   44.06
8.  Skihasen:	   43.66
9.  broiler:	   35.63
10. lacruz18:	   34.96

 

Worst karma:

 

There are many cachers who have hidden no caches at all. (In fact, in my list of 60692 cachers who have found at least one cache in Africa, only 4.8% have hidden a cache). The cachers with the most finds (and no owned caches) in Africa are:

1.  mart514:	         1413
2.  BrendsZA:	         1120
3.  horticalheta:	  888
4.  SonKind:	          815
5.  residencial.pordosol: 799
6.  iguana man:	          742
7.  escorcios:	          739
8.  marmotte407:	  669
9.  bizzy bee:	          665
10. Farrico&Andreia:	  632

 

Of the 60692 cachers in Africa, only 1915 have a karma larger than 1. In other words, only 3.2% give more than they take!

 

(All of these numbers are up to the end of 2013, and includes the whole of Africa. My numbers for Africa excluding South Africa may not be 100% complete.)

Edited by Danie Viljoen
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Cachers with the most find logs on their owned caches in Africa:

1.  luisftas:	        19017
2.  Teamnegativ:	18991
3.  Louwtjie&Vroutjie:	15430
4.  ricardomariagoncas:	14580
5.  lacruz18:	        13006
6.  GEO936:	        12745
7.  NotBlonde:	        10449
8.  Skihasen:	         9868
9.  paddawan:	         9704
10. Leon St:	         9407

 

11.5% of all the finds in Africa have been on caches which belong to one of these ten!

Edited by Danie Viljoen
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Worst karma:

 

There are many cachers who have hidden no caches at all. (In fact, in my list of 60692 cachers who have found at least one cache in Africa, only 4.8% have hidden a cache). The cachers with the most finds (and no owned caches) in Africa are:

1.  mart514:	         1413
2.  BrendsZA:	         1120
3.  horticalheta:	  888
4.  SonKind:	          815
5.  residencial.pordosol: 799
6.  iguana man:	          742
7.  escorcios:	          739
8.  marmotte407:	  669
9.  bizzy bee:	          665
10. Farrico&Andreia:	  632

 

Of the 60692 cachers in Africa, only 1915 have a karma larger than 1. In other words, only 3.2% give more than they take!

 

(All of these numbers are up to the end of 2013, and includes the whole of Africa. My numbers for Africa excluding South Africa may not be 100% complete.)

 

There is one flaw with these statistics which is a function of geocaching.com only allowing one owner for a geocache. Someone like BrendsZA who is an active part of ThomasfamilyZA and has been involved in all the caches we have hidden doesn't get any credit for them as they are all owned by ThomasfamilyZA.

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2 quick Earthcaching stats:

 

1) South Africa has just had it's 200th active Earthcache published. Strangely enough there have been a handful that have been archived.

2) Around 85% of all active South African Earthcaches have at least 1 Favourite Point - a very high percentage!

 

What were the reasons for the EC's being archived? Anything spectacular or just lack of support from the CO's?

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2 quick Earthcaching stats:

 

1) South Africa has just had it's 200th active Earthcache published. Strangely enough there have been a handful that have been archived.

2) Around 85% of all active South African Earthcaches have at least 1 Favourite Point - a very high percentage!

 

What were the reasons for the EC's being archived? Anything spectacular or just lack of support from the CO's?

 

Five archived in total:

 

One was Erosion related - and was part of a large municipal rehabilitation in Joburg - and suddenly no more Earthcache to observe :)

Another was access related - cachers could not access.

Others I believe were CO related.

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