GeoCaching #3 - We were called 'fearless' by the owner of the legendary virtual cache on the equator, "Rift Valley" GC53

At long last, we got some motorbike taxi guys!

Hans-Georg Michner, CO

"GC53, Rift Valley is one the earliest virtual GeoCaches - 'hidden' in June 2000 - and is perhaps the first on the equator. Located on a large sisal plantation, it's relatively easy to reach with an off-road vehicle when it's dry. Plan at least 1½ hours altogether from the main road."

"Because Africa can be tricky and because the place is somewhat remote I will describe the access here in more detail than I would normally provide for a geocache. The idea is that, if somebody has flown thousands of kilometers to reach Kenya and then driven for a day to get close, it would be needlessly frustrating to miss the cache or even to get stuck with the car."

That's how the cache owner, Hans-Georg Michner, described the cache on the app.

However... ignoring his advice about not going during one of Kenya's rainy seasons, my friend, Meidimi (GeoCache name: Nawesmake), and I went during an unusually crazy wet rainy season. We were forced to go by foot early on, as the entire area was saturated with water and there was a lot of flooding.

But we were up the challenge and were 100% determined to accomplish our task!

When we reached this water-logged area on the road, Meidimi parked his car and we went by foot in the hot sun!

The sisal plantation is over 3,000 acres in size and owned by a Greek man.

We walked a long ways in the hot sun!

We were unable to go any further due to the depth of the water and slippery mud below. Too risky to lose our phones!

According to two GPS sources, we were basically on the exact spot! Yippee!

We got permission from this AP police to enter the sisal plantation, in our quest to find the virtual cache.
And... finally! We had some motorbike taxi guys to take us to the area... and not have to walk all the way!

Here I am, standing on the equator, at the spot of the legendary first-ever virtual cache.

Hans-Georg Michner's comments about us on the GeoCache app:
"I'd like to congratulate the last finders, who fearlessly entered the area and got to the virtual cache despite the strongest rains the place has seen in many years. I wouldn't even have tried to get to the cache under these conditions. Particular thanks for the interesting descriptions and the equally interesting photos. I've never seen the place with so much water."

Michner's comments on his website:
The cache owner (CO) also keeps a personal record of people who have found and logged this cache. I must say - - I am rather proud to be called a 'fearless GeoCacher' by Michner!

Enjoying a cup of chai and the view of Lake Baringo, on another great day of GeoCaching

Excerpts from Meidimi's log:

Wow, this was quite the geocache. I went with my friend Deb who introduced me to this awesome activity. She came up to visit me and suggested we find it; I was very excited to go looking for it since it's the closest geocache in my area. Now we went in the rainy season and its been raining like never before in Kenya but we hoped the weather will be favorable for us to get there.... I tried to see if we could pass through barefoot but the water got deep and very slippery. If you go in the rainy season, please give yourself more than 2 hours. It took us close to 4 hours to reach the cache including traveling to it from 30 minutes away.

Excerpts from my log:

I'm very excited to log this one as my first virtual cache! It will be very memorable for me, as it was quite a fun challenge. It's likely I wouldn't have succeeded on my own, but luckily I was with my friend Meidimi.... After walking along the canal, we got as close as we could to ground zero. However, the entire area was flooded and we simply could go no further. Kenya's 'long rains' this year have been extremely heavy, with some saying it's the most rain in 100 years for all of East Africa. Meidimi (Nawesmake) removed his shoes and tried to wade through the water, but it was simply too slippery. I was wearing gum boots but even they wouldn't have helped the situation. We both feared we could drop our phones in the water... not a good thing!.... On the satellite view of the app, our blue location dot was smack-dab right on top of the cache location. 

Excerpts from Der and Die Holzmichelin (folks who found it just before us)

Achieving a milestone in geocaching has always been something special for us. A few months before our 20,000th find, we thought very carefully about which spectacular cache should be chosen for this jubilee. After extensive research we came across the legendary virtual cache "Rift Valley" listed as the world's first virtual Cache.

First we checked the risks behind this travel adventure on the African continent to Kenya. After an initial contact with the extremely helpful owner, Michna, all existing doubts were dispelled and our idea of a possible visit to the GC53 became a clear YES! We went to Africa!!!.... I am fascinated by our fantastic tour to the spectacular final coordinate 00°00.000 / E036°00.000 and very grateful for this very impressive geocaching experience.