Welcome to Buffalo Bay!
Just a short drive from Knysna, this little beach town is part of the Goukamma Marine Reserve and a favourite weekend hangout for locals and sun-seeking holidaymakers in season. With its pristine Blue Flag beach and spectacular, sprawling coastline scenery, Buffs, as it is affectionately known, is also reputed to have some of the best waves along the Garden Route and surfers can be seen speckling the sea all year round.
This multi-cache will show you the amazing art work recently created by local painters and mosaic artists along the beach front next to the main beach. It is a stroll of maybe 300 meters (one way) plus the way to the final cache container, which is also in walking distance or can be reached by retrieving your car. Your final cache coordinates (which you can check in the geochecker below) are determined by answering a few questions to the artwork as you stroll along.
Please do not post pictures of those mosaics or paintings that the questions below relate to, so as to not spoil the fun for your fellow cachers!
The story behind the Buffalo Bay Boardwalk:
The artwork here was created within the framework of the Knysna Art Route Project initiated by Visit Knysna (the greater Knysna area’s Destination Marketing Organisation), the Knysna Municipality and the Knysna Art Society. This installation is a series of six artworks on surfboards as well as stunning mosaics on the newly restored braais and was inspired by the surfers who come here. A call-out on social media for donations of surfboards for the project brought about twice as many as needed! Each surfboard was then refurbished, primed and handed over to an artist. Many more artists came forward and wanted to participate. The result of their work can be seen along this stretch just off the main beach as well as at the bus stops on the drive into Buffalo Bay.
Local surfer and resident "Wildy" (Waldermar van Wyk), being an accomplished surfer and artist himself, was champion and creative director for the boardwalk project. He has also created the mural on the railway bridge just off the N2 turn-off towards Buffalo Bay you may have noticed when driving underneath it to get here. He is working on an additional large piece of art for the beachfront (a beautifully illustrated map of the surf along with some pointers on surf etiquette and guidelines on safety), which will be added at the main beach.
(source: Visit Knysna Press Release, June 2021)
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Now on to your Multi-Cache!
Stage 1):
The posted coordinates bring you to the front of the public toilet buildings. Sorry for that, but they have been beautifully re-decorated with hand-painted artwork as well as surf-boards displayed on its walls.
Notice the surfboard mounted in front of the wall painted with a huge wave - you can stand on it to take a picture surfing while being certain to keep your feet and clothes dry!
Now walk around to the back of the ladies' restrooms, facing the beach and take a look at the marvellous painting on this wall.
Dolphins and seagulls were very artistically painted here.
Now look a bit closer - can you see that there are actually seagulls in between the dolphins just under the water line and dolphins in between the seagulls just above water? NOTE: building has been repainted. So long please use A= 10
Question 1: How many seagulls are flying in the sky? = A.
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Stage 2):
The water lily surfboard bench welcomes many a visitor to look out to the bay and watch the surfers playing in the waves.
Question: How many fishes are depicted on the mosaic at the foot of the bench? = B.
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Stage 3):
The Octopus bench
Question: How many parasols are on the mosaic at the foot of the bench? = C
Update: Mosaic seems to be damaged/gone. C is 5.
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Stage 4):
The Sunset Braai
Question: On the northern side of this beautifully decorated braai there is a surfer paddling out into the sunset towards how many white-capped waves? = D
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Stage 5)
The VW Bus
Look at this stunning work of art! Somebody amongst the local artists who created the mosaics really loves Volkswagen beatles and buses, right?
Question: How many yellow tiles make up the circle around a front light? Add up the value of the digits, which gives you = E
On the other side of the braai there is another beautiful mosaic.
Question: How many sailboats are on the water here? = F
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Stage 6)
Arriving at one of the most stunning pieces of artwork now: The beautiful Mermaid.
Question: How many rows of pink tiles make up her "belt" ? = G
At this same braai, the side facing the ocean shows dolphins jumping out of the water. How many? = H
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Stage 7)
Coming to another surfboard bench now.
Question: At the foot of this bench, how many starfish are between the two turtles? = I
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Stage 8)
You are now standing at the very last of the braais.
Take a look at the stunning mosaic. Do you see that it depicts a bench just like the ones decorated so beautifully all along this boardwalk, with a surfboard fixed on its back? And again depicting a little VW beetle on that surfboard?
Question 1) How many seagulls are flying in the sky? = J
Quesiton 2) How many people are sitting on the bench underneath those seagulls, a heart dangling above them? = K
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Congratulations !!
You have now collected all the information needed to determine the final coordinates of the cache container!
The cache is hidden at:
S34 (A:2).(B:4)(C-4)(D:2)
E22 (E-1)(F+3).(G+H)(I)(J-K)
(In case of doubt:
":" means "divided by", "-" means "minus", "+" means "plus". 😉
The cache container is within walking distance but you can also walk back to your car and drive & park at the location.
In the interest of the cachers following after you: When arriving at the cache location, please use stealth and make sure to only retrieve the container if you can safely do so without muggles getting interested. Thank you!