‘We’re no longer in Kanses’, Dorothy says to Toto. ‘We must be over the rainbow!’ A few hours after hitting our own yellow brick road we enter AfrikaBurn’s Land of Oz. A whole new world to discover.
AfrikaBurn magically appears in the desert village of Tankwa Town which pops up once a year for a week and looks like you’ve walked into a fantasy movie or a modern day fairy tale. It’s like The wizard of Oz meets Mary Poppins. With mountains and the Tankwa Karoo desert as a decor, the party outfits of Baz Luhrman’s Romeo + Julliet as its costumes and an art installation with skyhigh pointy towers as its castle. Tankwa town is all about blue skies, mesmerizing sunsets, larger than life art installations, music and performances, crazy dress ups, all night parties, sharing, giving unconditionally, making new friends, total freedom and some big festive fires.
Tires for breakfast
The yellow brick road is not where this tale of first times begins. It began on a Sunday morning last February with a laptop, sweaty hands and lots of adrenaline in a quest to getting tickets for the event. Continuing a few months later by flying to Cape town, driving a couple of hundred kilometres up north, picking up some camping equipment along the way, figuring out what to eat for a whole week without having a fridge or a stove, conquering an eating-tires-for-breakfast dusty dirt road and finally arriving at AfrikaBurn’s Official Gate and hitting the Virgin Burner welcoming gong. We finally made it!
After finding a place to camp out and saying hi to our new neighbours, exploring time it was. Inviting tunes led us to the Binnekring, a huge arena with art installations, mutant vehicles, music and dressed up Burners. Let me tell you, Tankwa Town and its citizens are one of a kind.
Surreal surroundings
Cruising the Binnekring on your bike, flipflops or a mutant vehicle really takes you back to your childhood in a split second. A playfull never-want-to-grow-up feeling boils up instantly. Excited, but totally relaxed with the only thing you might have to worry about is being on time for the next burn. While checking out the artworks, looking for a bit of shade, playing on a swing or listening to an acoustic music performance you can feel the excitement getting stronger, which finds its climax in that night’s burn.
Burn baby burn
At sunset the real games begin. Accompanied by music, the moon, a star lit sky and a huge crowd, it’s time to start a fire. And how spectacular it is! The warming heat of a big bonfire, the wind playing with the flames, the beauty of a burning art installation falling apart, thousands of spectators, the light caused by the fire shining on their faces, feelings of happiness and melancholy. After a while, the fire stops burning and the magnificent art piece is gone. As if it was never there, now only existing in our memories making an everlasting impression.
First times
The journey to AfrikaBurn and the time spend there, brought about quite a lot of first times. The great thing about first times is they stick to your memory. Nervous butterflies changes into excitement and energy brought upon new experiences. That’s the charm about doing new things: not knowing exactly what you’re getting yourself into, getting surprised, learning about yourself and learning from others, being creative and improvising. Adjusting to new situations gets you out of your comfort zone in the blink of an eye. Believe me, living in Tankwa Town is as far away from your comfort zone as a lot of us have ever been. At AfrikaBurn you have to bring everything yourself: food, drinks, camping stuff, the whole nine yards. No shower and improvised toilets. Well, you might say that’s no comfort zone at all. But that’s just the fun of it. Sharing the experience, having something in common, helping each other out. No complaints, there’s only fun and freedom. And lots of garbage bags to take all your waste back home with you off course.
Our time at AfrikaBurn has ended. A bit sad to leave we drive off into the sunrise. Doubting if we will ever come back to Tankwa Town, wanting not to spoil the beauty of this new first time memory. According to Dorothy there’s no place like home, but AfrikaBurn sure felt like it.
