The World Gold Panning Championships took place in Pilgrim's Rest in the second week of October, and proved that gold fever is still alive and well around the world!
Gold panning has been marketed recently as a heritage experience, and panners of all ages from all over the world are having fun in a sport that is inexpensive and needs no special talent.
At the festival, many people are only there to watch and enjoy the festivities but the competitors take their sport very seriously. For the competition, they receive a bucket of sand with an amount of gold nuggets in it that only the chief judge knows. They need to pan through the bucket in the fastest time possible. If they don't find all the nuggets, they are penalised.
This year, South Africa won the World Championship title, while Finland came in at second.
Continue through the gallery to look at the contestants at work.
