What’s Better than a Family Friendly Treasure Hunt?

Storms River Village is best known for its idyllic mountain views, magnificent indigenous forests and peaceful atmosphere. Our guests often make the most of their visit by enjoying the multitude of activities on offer: Segway Tours through the forest, Ziplining above the trees with Canopy Tours, Blackwater Tubing down the Storms River, not to mention all the stunning hiking trails that surround the Village. But there’s one completely free activity available in our Village (and around the world) that most have never heard of: Geocaching – the world’s largest family friendly treasure hunt. 

Beginning in the year 2000 with the rise of GPS technology, Geocaching has quickly become a popular activity for locals and tourists alike. There are over 3 million active geocaches to find all over the world. So what exactly is Geocaching? Simply put, Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity in which participants use GPS tracking to hide and seek containers, called Geocaches or just caches, at specific locations, usually historical landmarks or other places of interest, marked by coordinates, all around the world.

A cache is usually a small waterproof container, which holds a logbook, often a pencil for signing the logbook, and other trinkets for trading left by various finders. Using the Geocaching app, participants (geocachers) can easily see how many caches are in their immediate area. Each cache has GPS coordinates, a description of its location and why it was placed there, as well as a helpful clue to assist with its find. When a cache is found, geocachers must then sign the logbook in order to prove their finding, and log the find on their app. As an option, geocachers may also remove any of the trinkets from the container and leave one in its place. Once the find has been logged, the cache must be placed back in its location exactly as it was found. 

So what makes Geocaching so much fun? Just find your first one, and you’ll have the answer to that question. Geocaching is a fantastic way to get the whole family outdoors and working together to find ‘hidden treasure”. Part of the intrigue and excitement is that geocachers should endeavor to not be spotted by “muggles” (non-geocachers), so as to not draw attention to the hidden caches. 

Storms River Village is currently home to 10 caches, with many more in the surrounding area, making Geocaching a great way to explore our section of the Garden Route.