Dassie Census Multi-Cache
Fairest Cape: It was great while it lasted!
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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An opportunity to take part in a scientific study, meet cute furry creatures up close and visit a secluded beach.
The distance between the way-points in this 2 stage journey is short and getting to the cache location is quick after a little boulder hopping.
The Rock Hyrax (Procavia Capesis) or "Dassie" as it is affectionally known locally is found across Africa and the Middle East. Its natural habitat is mountainous terrain where it can shelter in rocky outcrops and hide away from predators. It is gregarious by nature and colonies of 10 - 80 are common but a colony close to human habitation is rare. This group has grown in 2 years from around 20 to over 40 and the dassies have become quite tame as a result of people feeding them leftover salads, fruit, peelings and flowers. In December 2013 Council erected signs to discourage feeding because this was a threat to the natural balance.
Dassies are most active in the early morning but even in quiet times you should spot several sunning themselves on the rocks. Watch for the senior female doing guard duty in the tree!
For obvious reasons the cache is not in among the dassies - you will have to forage and rock hop dassie style to find it.
Waypoint 1.
At the given co-ordinates you can look down into the colony. Try to count the dassies and record the number as well as the time of your visit. This is not a clue for the cache location and nor is it a logging requirement but it's fun and if you include this detail with your log entry, although the species is not endangered, we can track the population growth trend of this colony as well as feeding, breeding and migration habits month by month and over the years.
The nearest neighbour on the sea side of the road is No. A and the Ebb Tide is at B C D
Now take a stroll northwards to Waypoint 2. The house here used to be called The Eagle's Nest but over time the pair of eagles on the parapets have been removed and so has the sign. The eagle of course is one of the dassie's scariest predators. At this location you will find a brick column where you can get numbers E F & G H from its cover.
Waypoint 2.
S.33.57.550
E.018.22.608
Now proceed to the trail head:
Waypoint 3.
S.33.57.458
E.018.22.648
Here you will find a safe pathway which will lead you down to the cache at:
S.33.57.C [G+A]F
E.018.22.[E+G]D[B+C]
Please remember to include the dassie count in your log entry.
Check: The digits add up to 65.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Pyvzo hc ba gur syng obhyqre naq ernpu va gur pnivgl oruvaq.
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
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