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If you’re a ‘muggle’ like me you might be wondering what geocaching is all about. For the uninitiated, ‘muggle’ is the term for anyone who doesn’t go geocaching, and there are a number of terms that form part of this growing sub-culture.
Geocaching is a hi-tech treasure hunting game, where small treasures are left by fellow cachers who then upload the GPS co-ordinates of the caches onto the web. Followers then logon and use the co-ordinates to find the caches. All you need to get in on the action is a GPS device or a Smart Phone.
The co-ordinates can only get the seekers close to the cache, but once nearby they’ll have to search for the cache which is often hidden. The cache can be anywhere from on top of a building to next to a waterfall in the middle of nowhere. Once you’ve found a cache you can sign the logbook, and replace the treasure inside the cache with an object of equal or greater value.
Geocachers themselves are quite easy to spot, mainly because they’re always talking about yesterday’s crazy adventure into a vlei in some remote spot, or how they spent two hours up a tree trying to find a hidden cache. One of the major pros to the sport is that it gets people to explore the areas around them. It’s easy to talk about “how we really should get out into nature more often”, but then to simply just turn on the Discovery Channel and stay at home. Geocaching turns a hike into an adventure, and changes the way we interact with our environment.
There is also something amazing about being part of an underground group of people who are completely unconnected otherwise. People who have never met share a unique experience as they exchange gifts through a cache. Caches often travel around the world, picking up various additions as they go. People can put any type of ‘treasure’ into the cache, and it will usually be something that is specifically important or interesting for them.
If you want to get in on the action you can go to http://www.geocaching.com, sign up, get the co-ordinates for a cache near to you, and get searching.
