It's the final countdown!!

Am I excited?? Well, am I? Who wouldn't be. I have my passport, I have  my flight booked. On the 24th of September I fly out of George airport, via OR Tambo airport and all the way to Windhoek in Namibia. From there I will be picked up by my own personal safari guide. I guess I am lucky, Christian is my life partner. He will be dropping of tourists from America after their safari and then it's my turn.

We plan on travelling north. He is going to take me to the country of my birth, Zambia. And Botswana, and Zimbabwe. Wow, 5 countries in less than 3 weeks. (Did I mention I was excited?)

I still have to do my homework as to just how many Geocaches we can slot in. Still lots to do. Along with packing I have a house to organize and I still have to work until the day before I leave.

The packing list is growing daily. Camera, anti-malaria tablets, GPS, laptop, clothes, toiletries.... At least Christian has the camping gear there already and Namibia has some pretty good shops so whatever gets inevitably forgotten can be bought.

So for now, I am off to decide what shoes will be the most practical.......

Finding treasure.

Just imagine, while out hunting for an elusive FTF, faithfully and blindly following the arrow on your GPS or smart phone. Turning over rocks and looking in hollow trees like we do. Then discovering real hidden treasure. Long lost hoards of gold. Is this maybe what keeps us motivated? Recently a couple in the USA were walking there dog and they discovered just that millions (and I mean millions) of dollars worth of long lost gold coins. A total mystery how it got there. But this couple really got lucky.
But not all treasure is gold. Not all that sparkles is gold. A beautiful sunset, an amazing view, an exciting new spot. Personally that is the treasure to geocaching. Being taken to new and exciting places that are off the beaten track.
And as I type this I am getting excited. my ultimate African Geocaching Safari adventure is being planned.

The tale of a trackable...

Do you own a trackable? Bugs and coins, they love them, we own them and then we release them to travel at the hands of many others who share our love of the game. I own 4. One, called Phylis Fairy was taken from a cache never to be seen again. One is a sticker on the back of my car, waiting to be discovered. Another, Psyco Sow is a "take 2" after the original was muggled in a cache in Australia. This one is now in Germany, after a brief but exciting safari expedition. And coincidently, I have another bug in Germany which has an interesting story to tell.

Ho-Humm belonged to my late husband. We released it as part of a travel bug race. It travelled well, went into Europe, moved around, and then went mysteriously missing from a cache in Switzerland. My German in not very good, but I could tell from the logs that it wasn't were it was supposed to be. I had forgotten about it and lost hope. And a few months after my husband lost his battle with cancer I got a very welcome message. A fellow cacher had discovered the bug in the hands of  a muggle and managed to talk them into giving it to him so that he could send it on it's way again. To date it has travelled some 15481.2km and been to some awesome places. I have no idea if it will ever come home again. And maybe, one day I will take a trip to Europe to visit it. But cachers are wonderful people and this is why I love this game.

Things that bite!!!

The are out there. Your turn over a rock and there they are - scorpions, spiders, ants, snakes and other little crawlies. What they are really doing is hiding from the sunshine. Waiting for their next meal. They don't want to hurt you - injecting venom uses up energy. Bites and stings to larger creatures (like humans) are a self-defense mechanism. Why would the want to use up all that energy unless their lives are in danger? But they do have a nasty habit of living under stones and in near little holes, which indecently are exactly where most geocaches are hidden! There are things that could bite while doing a geocaching tour in Africa, we discovered this little rock scorpion at our latest find. Take care out there. Turn rocks over carefully and always away from you.

Holidays....

It's creeping closer. Christmas is coming. Holiday season is almost upon us. What's on your wish list this year?
Maybe a new GPS to make finding those elusive hides more exciting. This time of year has always been about spending more time with family and loved ones.

Are you one of those lucky ones who are going travelling? The weather is now perfect for caching and safaris. Even more fun when somebody else is doing all the driving and hard work for you.

Another interesting link I found is Cache Face. A group of like minded people chatting about their favourite hobby.

31 days of Geocaching...

That's the plan. 31 days in August and the goal is to be active for all 31 of them, So who is taking part? Seeking, placing and attending - it all counts!
First off - are there enough caches in your area? And if not, are there enough places to hide caches? The reviewers are going to be pretty busy. Planning? I guess, like me, you start with the caches closest to home that have been on your "must get around to do" list! And then go further and further. Who knows where we end up by August the 31st!

Maybe what we need is some professional help. Maybe this is the perfect time to take that safari that we've been promising ourselves.

So what caches are we planning on placing? And is there going to be the usual rush of FTF seekers? Exciting times ahead by the looks of things!

TFTC - What's in a log?

Are you one of those people who simply write "TFTC" as proof that you were there? Personally, I think it's a bit rude and very impersonal. But it's seems to be the accepted way lately. I always like to take time to let the owner of the cache know what I think. I mean, they went out of their way to place it. Most of us are proud of our caches (at least we should be). And feedback, whether good or bad is always appreciated. It also gives other cachers a clue as to what to expect. "Great view" or "watch out for dogs/ticks/ muggles/etc" is always helpful. I like to try and get a bit creative with my logs. And I appreciate it when people do the same for my hides. And I'm not talking about those people out there who like to write whole essays on the hide, the hunt, the find and their life story. But a simple note on what they think of your cache, the condition in is in and anything else that they might find of interest is always appreciated. And if you are wondering what all those names and abbreviations stand for, those clever people at Geocaching HQ have it all explained.  I think next time I see a very good entry I am going to share it here. In the meantime TNLNSL - TFTC.