Facebook

0

Twitter

email

Reddit

0

We’ll admit — assigning the Okavango Delta a label like “Geocache of the Week” feels incredibly insufficient. This place is so far removed from the world of mysteries, FTFs, gadget caches, and lock-n-locks, it can hardly be reduced to a point in a GPS treasure hunt game.

Just look at this:

That being said, if you should happen to be lucky enough to live near or visit the Okavango Delta in northern Botswana, you might as well do what’s required to log this EarthCache. The EarthCache itself will probably not be the highlight of your trip. Rather, the highlight is more likely to be the incredible wildlife you encounter, the things you learn from the people you meet, or the sensation of gliding through channels of reeds with only an inch or two of mokoro (canoe) separating you from water that will, incredibly, never make its way out of Africa — according to the cache page it will instead disappear into the thirsty sands of the Kalahari Desert.

As you’re walking through a dry plain of low grass and sand, keeping an eye out for big cats, rhinos, elephants, and any number of other large fauna that might be lurking nearby, it will seem abstract and irrelevant that the Okavango is not, strictly speaking, a delta at all, but rather an alluvial fan.

That sort of detail will become more important when you’re answering the required EarthCache questions and you learn about the geological history of the Okavango.

You will probably never find another geocache where it feels appropriate to upload the photo of the lion cubs you saw clambering over their mother in clumsy attempts to be fed.

Same with that photo you captured of a hyena bathed in morning light.

Many geocaches are out of reach to many people. Actually, most geocaches are out of reach to most of us. Heck, there are 2.9 million geocaches on the planet right now! As humans with lives and jobs and limited lifespans we’re forced to pick and choose our geocaches.

If at all possible, pick this one. It will be worth it.

Continue to explore some of the most amazing geocaches around the world.
Check out all of the Geocaches of the Week on the Geocaching blog. If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, fill out this form.