Rangers

What’s a Ranger?

Tankwa Town Rangers are participants who volunteer a portion of their time at AfrikaBurn in service of the safety and well-being of the AfrikaBurn community. Rangers – also known as The Orange – act as non-confrontational community mediators, providers of reliable information, facilitators of public safety, and promoters of the eleven guiding principles upon which AfrikaBurn is based.

Day and night, pairs of Rangers can be found walking and bicycling throughout Tankwa Town, engaging with the community, enjoying the art, and helping participants respond to situations that can range from directing people to the nearest loo to finding lost children, managing burn perimeters, and supporting overwhelmed participants.

Rangers are not a security force. Our event has accredited security that are hired for the period, and they are there to lock down the gate if required and back up the Rangers under extreme circumstances. Within Tankwa Town. ‘law and order’ is maintained by two assumptions. First, Radical Self Reliance means that each participant is responsible and proactive in terms of their own well-being and, in terms of Participation and Civil Responsibility, proactive in terms of the well-being of others. Second, the volunteer-based Ranger organization takes responsibility for working with participants to identify risks, dangers, or hazards, then working with the appropriate departments to minimize, manage, or mediate them.

Becoming a Ranger entails coming to a five-hour training session and then signing up for at least one shift at the event. The more shifts, the more events, the more experience, and the more roles you learn, the more you can contribute to your AfrikaBurn community as well as your own communities and workplaces.

Rangers work within one or more of six organisational roles at the event:

Dust Rangers form the core of all Ranger services. These Rangers walk around, talk to people, visit, interact with AfrikaBurn and all its art, advocate for the 11 Principles, and apply them with compassion where and if needed. These Rangers are the eyes and ears for the whole Ranger crew. They know much about Tankwa Town because they see it all first!

Green Dot Rangers specialise in helping participants through difficult situations that have a strong emotional or internal component. Green Dots are patient listeners who seek to hold space for participants undergoing inner transformation or experiencing internal or emotional distress.

Fire Perimeter Rangers support burning art projects by managing a perimeter between participants and open flame. They work closely with the artists and Fire Safety to organize, train, and deploy Rangers around a burn site.

Dust Leads provide knowledgeable and experienced support in the field for other Rangers by offering face to face advice, backup, and coordination support.

Shift Leads support Rangers on shift. At Ranger Headquarters, Tortoise – the call sign for Shift Leads – monitors the Ranger radio channels. When needed, they secure resources to support situations and communicate with other departments to ensure timely response to incidents.

Ranger One is a special role for seriously experienced and capable Rangers. As the top Ranger on duty, they advise the Shift Leads on complex issues and work with other departments to deliver the best response possible to difficult community situations.

Ranger Training Dates for AfrikaBurn 2022

With our city population growing each year, we need more Rangers in Tankwa Town than ever before. We are always looking for qualified Rangers to staff over four thousand hours of shifts during the event.

If you, or anyone in your camp or crew, are interested in stepping up, please feel free to join us at the various training dates planned throughout the year in various South Africa cities, or join us at a training at the event. We all hold the space together, and together can we hold it right.

Have further questions about Rangers? Mail us on [email protected]

Interested in becoming a Ranger? Check out the following Training dates below.

Cape Town Training Dates 2022

(unless otherwise specified, Ranger trainings are at AfrikaBurn offices – Junction Hotel, 8 Junction Road, Salt River, Cape Town)