Survival Series

[Tusk O'2]

Well, I woke up @ 5 am with the whole series worked out (yeah, in my dreams) and made a pot of coffee and now I'm gonna put it down in writing - as best as I can remember. Sure was not a nightmare!

 

Firstly, It's not actually a proposal for a series, I am going to put up the cache "Survival 1" soon and I would hope that sommer a klomp of you would join me in this so that it would develop into a "series".

 

Ok, this is what I have in mind.

 

A medium-sized container (waterproof) and inside all nice goodies like at least 2 liters off drinkable water, an energy bar or six, some of those powdered patato goo, glucose sweets, mercurochrome, some band-aids, a lighter .... and now you can help me by adding to the list. The basic survival kit. (I would add some of those coffee and tea goodies that one find in most hotelrooms)

 

As a geocache the normal visitor would be expected to at least bring something that is in the cache, and replace that something with the same item - only to keep perishables fresh Therefore I would want to publish the expiry date of such an item too.

 

And of course, if the situation should arise, and cacher would be more than welcome to make use of the "emergency" and use whatever is needed - as long as it is logged so that it can be replaced afterwards.

 

Blikkies! Dit was harde werk! Vat my 'n hele halfuur om daardie brits te gorrel!

 

Ek dink julle weet almal waarvan ek praat hier. Natuurlik het ek 'n "agenda" want ek dink ek het gaan slaap net na ek die nuus gelees het en toe word ek wakker met 'n oplossing vir die dinge wat my bekommer. daardie "Wat as ..."

 

So ja, miskien gaan ek so noodkassie wegsit om dalk een of ander tyd self te gebruik? Dan doen ek maar die "regte" ding en stel dit beskikbaar vir julle almal ... net vir die wis en die onwis?

 

Iniside the cache, in the logbook, I would also put the telephone nrs (and maybe an adress) of a nearby medical facility.

 

The cache will be very easy to find but definately not prone to be stumble upon by muggles.

 

Now for my second coffe ....

[+cincol]

I like the idea of a "Survivor" type series, however there is one MAJOR problem as far as caches are concerned. As per Geocaching.com, caches should not contain any food items as they are prone to attracting animals, etc who have a sense of smell far advanced of humans. Cache containers are also generally plastic which complicates the matter as far as animals are concerned.

 

Perhaps will a little bit of thought and discussion around the subject by the creative South African cachers on this Forum we could come up with a series that will be exciting. I am looking forward to some debate on it.

 

Sakkie - you better get used to it - early morning cups of coffee are what happen REGULARLYT when there is a baby in teh house!!

[+Tricky Vicky & Mickey]

Lighters are also a no-no - they get extremely hot in caches and can explode and cause fires. One we removed from a cache last year exploded in our vehicle - luckily it was parked at the time, but the noise of the explosion was loud enough for us to hear from inside a house and we are still finding the little bits of blue plastic spread throughout the cache mobile! Fortunately the car survived it all!

 

Perhaps matches would be a better option, if they are on the approved list.

[+Fish Eagle]

The guideline for cache contents can be found here and says -

Use your common sense in most cases. Explosives, fireworks, ammo, lighters, knives (including pocket knives and multi-tools), drugs, alcohol or other illicit material shouldn't be placed in a cache. As always respect the local laws. Geocaching is a family activity and cache contents should be suitable for all ages.

 

Food items are always a bad idea. Animals have better noses than humans, and in some cases caches have been chewed through and destroyed because food items (or items that smell like food) are in the cache. Even the presence of mint flavored dental floss has led to destruction of one cache.

 

If the original cache contents list any of the above items or other questionable items, or if a cache is reported to have the questionable items, the cache may be disabled, and the owner of the cache will be contacted and asked to remove the questionable items before the cache is enabled.

 

Even though the guideline says that food ideas are a "bad idea", reviewers worldwide won't publish a cache with food items in it.

[+RedGlobe]

Soe Sakkie....ek dink jy moet maar nog n beker koffie gaan drink.....

[+anlufu]

You could alway replace the lighter with a flint stone, and the food with bits of string and wire to make traps, and tools to dig up roots and termites~

[Ding bat]

My idea would be maybe put things like bandages ,plasters etc.

Or you could put some toys that look like things for survival.

 

Ding bat

[+Gps Storm]

What about a cache survival/repair cache?

 

Caches hidden all over the country that are stocked with cache repair goodies like containers, log books, pencils, sharpeners, caching guidelines etc....

 

That way, when you get to a cache and find that it needs some maint (And as we all know, whatever the cache needs you just won't have with you that day of coarse), you can look up the nearest repair cache, get what you need for maint and snip, snip and bob's you aunty, the cache is fixed!!!!

 

Just a thought, use it, don't use it!

[+Raslin]

I think this is a great idea, the caches could be placed in areas where they will be needed, for example in a game reserve or other remote areas, where people would need them in case of emergency. No point in having a survival cache place near a shopping center for example.

 

Instructables.com have a number of projects for suvival kits if any one is intrested. This could become a mainstream trend within the caching community.

[+Megaben]

Well I had a cup of Chinese tea and came up with this,

 

Instead of placing bandages, first aid kits and so on.. why not start building something close to the cache site like a survival shelter made from items found in the cache area. Then each guy has to do something to the shelter like planting a stick and take a photo of it. That way the first guy starts with the first piece and the shelter develops more as more cachers do something to it. You should then take a photo of what you did to the shelter and post it so everyone could see the progress...

 

My five sents... looking for a cup of coffee now.