Have you ever heard for geocaching? Neither had we until  a friend told us about it. John, our mate, is a super techie, so when he was describing it, visions of anorak-clad techie types running about all over the country sprang to mind.

The truth is far from this, and basically is a group of people who use this as a game of high-tech “hide and seek”, utilising the latest GPS devices and web technology to find hidden “caches”. These can be as big as an old army ammo box or as small as a tiny magnetic capsule (a nano-cache).

Basically, there are thousands of small caches hidden across the world, all tagged by grid reference coordinates, which basically you use GPS technology to find them. Once found, you log the find in the book within the box, and on the Geocache website, with a picture or a blog about the find. Also, the boxes may contain toys etc for the kids – all you do is take one and replace it with something of similar value for the next finder.

All sounds a bit odd I know, but think of it as Orienteering without the running.

The main website is http://www.geocaching.com and you can sign up for free, or pay a small subscription which unlocks some other useful things you can do.

If you go on to the website, just do a search in your local area by post code – you will be astonished as to how many there are and where they are hidden. All you do is punch in the co-ordinates, read the clue and off you go. Difficulty ratings  are placed on the cache, and most are set in a series.

There are very few in Morocco at the moment, so our plan is to place one in places of interest so visitors can see great views or places to go.

Getting started is easy, you just need the basic GPS – I use a low cost Garmin unit, or just get an iPhone app – thats it.

Easy Steps to Geocaching

  • Register for a free Basic Membership on the website
  • Click “Hide & Seek a Cache.”
  • Enter your postal code and click “search.”
  • Choose any geocache from the list and click on its name.
  • Enter the coordinates of the geocache into your GPS Device.
  • Use your GPS device to assist you in finding the hidden geocache.
  • Sign the logbook and return the geocache to its original location.
  • Share your geocaching stories and photos online.

So here is a short video on geocaching in Morocco and our first cache.