Theme Camp Criteria

Theme camps are the pulsing heart of Tankwa Town. These criteria was worked out to enable everyone to have a clear parameter in which to operate. There is a summary at the end that can serve as a check list.

1. What should you offer? Something…anything! Theme Camps must be interactive and have some visual presence. They should include activities, events or services for the Tankwa Town community. Clever, well thought out and unique camps are always well received – and simply providing a venue with sunset cocktails isn’t enough to receive placement on Binnekring Rd. If that’s what you want to do though, don’t be deterred, please go ahead, but we can’t reserve a space for you. Bear in mind that some camp crew should be at your camp at all times in order for your activities to be as accessible to others as possible – especially if located on Binnekring Rd.
2. Daytime – only doesn’t cut it on the ‘Kring. A camp that is a hub of activity during the day but closed at night will leave gaping dark and lonely hole on Binnekring Rd at night. If you don’t have at least some evening activities planned at your camps (a fire brazier and a place for people to gather will go a long way), its unlikely that you will get Binnekring Rd placement.
3. Be open for the full week. Your camp must be operational throughout the entire week of the AfrikaBurn event (Monday ‘til Sunday). Theme Camps that haven’t arrived in reasonable time will lose their placement and be moved to the private camping area. All registered Theme Camps are allowed early access to the site by utilising early arrival passes.
4. Keep it tidy. A good MOOP track record will help a lot with requests for Binnekring Rd frontage. Should you have had a theme camp that received red on a past year’s MOOP map, your application for placement will be somewhat compromised. Keep it tidy means a lot in this context.
5. Keep your SOUND promises. Should you be any kind of sound camp, you’ll need to agree upfront to a certain size sound rig and adhere to the Tankwa Town Sound guidelines for sound camps and also adhere to the sound requirements in the area the camp is placed. (you can check out our Sound Guidelines here).
6. Play it cool. Theme Camps need to operate within legal parameters. If you’re gifting booze, it can’t be served to underage participants, at all. Not a drop. Seriously – this is a major headache for our Medics, Rangers and community in general. Don’t enable kids getting wasted – play it cool and ask for to see their band(under age kids wear special wristbands)  if in doubt: Tankwa Town may be a Temporary Autonomous Zone, but it’s still in the Republic Of South Africa, so you’re still subject to the laws of the land.
7. Safety counts too. Our safety guidelines and requirements are important for the same reason as above. Theme Camp leads will be required to adhere to all the safety requirements laid out by our fabulous safety officer.
8. Your track record counts. We know intentions are mostly always good, but there are some Theme Camps that have been serial “non-deliverers”. These will be viewed as such and the likelihood of placement will be affected by that. The reverse applies too: those camps that are serially amazing will always be considered favourably. Please note: though we can’t always place Theme Camps in the same place as previous years, we will try and accommodate placement requests wherever we can.
9. Branding? Profit? You’re in the wrong town. This is very serious. AfrikaBurn is a tool for change in the world, and the principle of Decommodification is key to our desert experiment. Branding, promotion and activation of any products or services is just plainly not allowed and deeply uncool. Any Theme Camps operating as a branding or marketing exercise or using branding in any way will be shut down – or at the very least, asked to completely remove or cover up all branding. True story. Similarly, Plug and Play do-all-your-shit-for-you-for-a-fee-camps are a major no-no. Want to run a camp that coins it off guests? Interested in making a killing by supplying accommodation, services and catering? Find another place to do it – Tankwa Town is about relationships – not profits or products.
10. Idealism. We’re after all an experiment in inventing the world anew, so if your whole camp is powered by solar and wind or other generated power, we’re going to be impressed. Similarly if you have any other innovations that you are using in or at your camp (like greywater evaporation contraptions, or innovative toilet designs), your efforts will be viewed favourably and have an influence on your placement.
11. Space/people/gifting/car ratio: Your theme camp space allocation will not be measured on the amount of people in your camp but the size of your gift. The ration is a balance between the number of campers, the offering of your camp and the number of vehicles that you need to run your operations.

The quick check list for theme camps:

Theme camps should be:

• be visually stimulating
• offer an interactive experience
• have a theme
• offer a service to the citizens of Tankwa Town
• be neighbourly
• follow safety protocols
• have a good previous MOOP record
• be operational and open to the public from the Monday of the event until the Sunday
• follow our Plug Play & Profit and Tent Policies.
• to adhere to the Sound Policy and work with our SOOP Rangers.

If your camp is massive with many people, don’t expect to be placed in the tightest part of Tankwa Town. Binnekring frontage is under a lot of pressure, so of your camp has many people and only a small offering to the public, please don’t expect to be placed on a busy frontage like Binnekring Road or 10ish Boulevard.

Whilst we’ll do our best to provide your camp with a great spot, placement is always at the discretion of the Theme Camp committee.