The Amazing Cache #4: United Kingdom Multi-Cache

Welcome to the Amazing Cache #4: United Kingdom
The 2^nd Anglo-Boer War was fought from the 11^th October 1899 till the 31^st May 1902, between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic). All in all the war had cost 75 000 lives, and ended with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging, brining the two republics under the flag of the British Empire.

Though, it is the setting which we find important for this cache: In June 1900, British forces attacked the city of Pretoria of the ZAR and annexed the Schanskop & Klapperkop Forts, bringing them under British control. (You will also noticed that we placed this cache on the 31st May 2006 - 104 years after the treaty of Vereeniging was signed!)

This is where our story begins, a long, long time ago...

General Piet Cronje, a hero from the 1^st Anglo-Boer war, had a distinctive appearance, being short with a black beard, though never lacked in personal courage.  One thing that you did not know about Gen. Cronje, is that he was charged to protect a great family treasure, which has been passed down since his family started on the “Great Trek”.

At the beginning of February 1900, when the siege of Mafikeng was going despairingly unwell, he sent a letter to his wife informing her of the ailing battle and told her to hide the treasure in a secret location. On the 27^th February 1900, Gen. Piet Cronje surrendered at Paardeburg and was sent to St. Helena Island as a Prisoner of War.

Now his wife was a very clever woman, who decided that the only way to hide the family treasure was to devise a mechanism that would prove impossible to crack: Make a Boer and an Englishman work together – which was unheard of for the past 100 years!!!

Gen. Piet Cronje’s wife died from a serious illness before he could return from the island, thus taking the location of the family’s treasure with her to the grave... until now!

Please Note: This is the 4th cache in a series of caches called The Amazing Cache (To learn more: http://amazingcache.koneki.com). If you wish to take part in this race, please visit the details for the first pitstop of the race: The Amazing Cache #1: South Africa. The first waypoint of this leg of the race (#4) can only be obtained by completing the 3rd pitstop: The Amazing Cache #3: Ukraine.

You will need 2 Geocachers for this one! Preferably someone who can speak English and someone else who can speak Afrikaans/ Dutch, as this is the way to finding the missing treasure! (You may also find a team member on the forum: click here). Each Geocacher will be stationed at each the above forts simultaneously, and will have to work together to find the final cache (Both team members will need a GPSr). At the forts, you will have to obtain a map (your first waypoint), which can be calculated once you have solved the equation from the 3rd pitstop of the race, and applied as so:

• The "Englishman" needs to visit the Klapperkop Fort, and can find the map at S XX XX.xxx, E YY YY.yyy
  Klapperkop entrance: S 25 46.893, E 028 12.643

• The "Boer", needs to visit the Schanskop Fort and will need to find the map at S XX XX.xxx (-0.114), E YY YY.yyy (-1.425) - relative to the above equation/ location.
  Schanskop entrance: S 25 46.684, E 028 10.326

The rest of the details will be given to you on-site once you have retrieved the map.  Please do not forget to place the map back in it's container once you have obtained all of the co-ordinates! Watch out for muggles! We've also put some pricey contents in the cache - so please exchange appropriately.

Pitstop #4 Detour: Finding needles in a haystack!
A detour is available for this leg of the race, but it will not be easy: At the Klapperkop Fort, located at S25 46.772, E28 12.603, you will find a monument. Surrounding this monument are plaques with names of servicemen who gave their lives in defending South Africa - This will be the start of your detour. You will need to download these instructions to complete it - Good Luck!

• Please Note: There is a small entrance fee at each of the locations.

• You will need little more than a hour to complete this cache - the forts close at 4pm during winter, and at 5pm during the summer.

• Both Geocachers may claim the cache (though remember, both cachers need to sign the log book!). Please state who helped you in your log - no geocacher may complete this cache twice. If you prefer, family and friends may help instead.

• Please be careful when logging the cache, as in not to give away the location.

• At Klapperkop: I have spoken to the caretaker (Andre - 012 346 7703), and he is happy about the cache being placed there, so if you have any problems with the caretaking staff, just tell them that you've spoken to Andre, and that you will be looking in very strange places for clues!