… when pirates sailed the seas, and pillaged and plundered across the ocean, there was no greater challenge than a treasure hunt. Treasure maps with secret locations, trap doors and hidden caverns, countless gold coins with various curses upon them were the heartbeat of the “scallywags”. All they needed was a map (or rumour that some treasure exists somewhere), a compass (and the guidance of the starry night sky), and a lust for gold and rewards…

Pirates, obviously, are not common in the contemporary world (not in that old meaning of the word, anyway). However, the thrill of finding treasures has remained. Aside from scavenger hunts and bounty hunters, there is another option for all treasure seekers out there: geocaching.

Geocaching is a relatively new game which combines the best of hiking, orienteering, treasure hunting and mystery solving. It is simple, fun and very engaging. All you need in order to participate is a GPS unit (though this is optional), some co-ordinates and a lot of enthusiasm!

Start from scratch

The first thing you need in order to join the geocaching community is to obtain a GPS unit. The Global Positioning System was originally developed for military use. It refers to a complex system of satellites orbiting the Earth that send signals to a GPS unit/receiver (GPSr) in order to pinpoint its location on the planet with five to 10 metres’ accuracy. Only in 2000 was the GPSr introduced to the wide public – and it has become incredibly popular since. As almost any techno gadget, the GPSr concept is constantly upgraded and new models appear every year, which has also made the units more affordable. Today you can buy a decent basic GPS unit for as little as 200 leva. If you feel that geocaching might be your new pastime, it is wise to invest in a GPSr, although geocacher Svetlin Marinov believes it is not necessary to own one if you feel like spending longer amounts of time looking for a cache solely with the help of an orienteering map and a compass.

It may sound easy to enter the co-ordinates in your GPSr and immediately locate the cache, yet you can never be sure what terrain the cache is on – you might have to climb a tall tree or dig deep underground. Be prepared for surprises. “Every cache is an adventure,” Svetlin says. “You never know (although you try to go prepared) what you will have to pass through in order to find a geocache. I’ve been walking in railway tunnels, I’ve been running along the fields high in the mountain, and I’ve been hiding from the people around in parks and public places. (Of course, we don’t want anyone not committed to the game discovering our precious stashes.)”

What are the rules of the game?

It’s simple, for one. You find a cache, enter at least your name and the date in the log book, take whatever little item is hidden in the cache, put an item of your own to replace the one you took (a bit like “pay it forward”) and return the cache to its original location as if you were never there… As long as geocachers keep swapping items and logging their finds, all is well.

As the experts from geocaching.com state, after discovering several geocaches, you should be able to place one of your own for others to find.

Geocaching in
Bulgaria

Since its initiation in 2000, geocaching has gradually turned into a worldwide phenomenon, driving many enthusiasts out of their homes and onto cache hunting adventures. The activity has its fair amount of fans in Bulgaria as well. There are currently about 126 caches to be found in Bulgaria, which marks a 114.5 per cent increase since May 2005, statistics show. Seventeen of these caches have never been found. The official geocaching website for Bulgaria (geocaching-bulgaria.com) has about 60 registered users, yet this number is also increasing rapidly, as Svetlin mentions.

Is geocaching for you?

There is just one way to find out: go out, try it out, see if it fits your lifestyle. As Svetlin says, “For some, geocaching looks like a crazy activity in which you use tens, sometimes hundreds, of dollars in order to equip yourself and reach the craziest spot just to find a box full of fluffy toys and useless gadgets – and for others it is the game of a lifetime.”