Rift Valley

The Rift Valley geocache (GC53) was placed on 15 June 2000, six weeks after the birth of geocaching, at the exact point where the equator crosses the 36th meridian east. Hans-Georg Michna, a German who had worked for years at the Kenyan government's computing centre and never stopped coming back, drove his 4x4 straight off the road: hours of track, a river forded through the water, a slope so steep he thought he would tip over backwards. Nothing can be hidden in that sisal plantation where people live and work. So he carved a mark on a tree forty metres to the south, and asked visitors for a photo as proof: he is credited with the first virtual cache of the game.

A virtual cache hides nothing: the place is the reward, and proof of a visit replaces the logbook. This one waited until February 2002 to be found for the first time, and remains the doyenne of African caches. The tree has been felled, the plantation fenced: today you need the manager's agreement to approach the point, and you have to give up during the rains. Michna still keeps the register of his visitors himself.