First Timers
Your AfrikaBurn experience will be made all the easier and enjoyable if you seriously consider where you’re going, what you’re doing and what you’ll need to do it. AfrikaBurn is not an event where the usual festival survival kit (tent, booze, snacks) will be sufficient – it’s an exercise in creativity and survival in an extreme environment. So plan ahead, plan smart, and plan to bring everything you need. If you do it right, you’ll be in for the ride of your life.
YOU NEED THESE THINGS
- Minimum 5 litres of water per person per day – carry a bottle of water with you and rehydrate regularly
- Food and beverages for your entire party and your entire stay – there is nothing on sale but ice.
- A basic first aid kit
- Shelter: a tent with bedding, and preferably an open shade structure too. If it’s not windproof, kiss it goodbye.
- Camping lights, torches, headlamps and LED’s. Pack spare batteries.
- Rubbish bags – because you’re going to be taking it all back with you
- Hand sanitiser – because chances are good you will be exposed to germs & bacteria through communal use of utensils and facilities
- Protective clothing (including warm clothes and waterproof gear – it might be the desert, and it is very warm in the day, but nights can be freezing and if & when it rains, it pours)
DO NOT BRING THESE THINGS
- Plants. If it doesn’t belong there, leave it where it does.
- Feathers of any kind, such as boas, which shed and get blown in the wind
- Glitter. Save it for the disco, divas. It’s a bitch to clean up after.
- Excess packaging. Lighten your load – just bring the contents.
- Explosives or firearms of any kind, including BB guns or pellet guns
- Pets of any description (see ‘Plants’ above)
- Don’t overstock on fresh produce – just bring enough to eat. Why? It rots, and it’ll stink up you car as you head back to reality.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THINGS
- Umbrellas, parasols, hats, sunscreen, lip balm and sunglasses
- Bring a bicycle (mountain bikes are best) and decorate it, make it an installation, light it up for nighttime cruising. Bring a puncture kit.
- A portable shower
- Smokers should bring a portable ashtray. No butts on the floor. At all. Not even one, boet. The Tankwa is pristine and we are all tasked with keeping it that way.
- Anything that can make sharp tent staves safer (tennis balls: perfect)
- An extra set of car keys, just in case.
- Costumes, musical instruments, signs, body paint and anything else that might enrich and make your AfrikaBurn more fun for you and your neighbours.
TOILETS
- If it wasn’t made by your body, don’t put it in the loo. Putting anything but human waste and one-ply toilet paper into our Throne toilets jeopardises the process used to convert bodily waste into manure
- There are tampon bins in toilets marked with a red triangle
- ALWAYS close the lid when you’re done – this prevents flies from entering the toilet tank and also keeps odours down
- Do not dump grey water or bags from your personal camping toilet in the toilets: use an evaporation pond for your grey water (or transport it off site for proper disposal)
- Here it is again: NO TAMPONS, RUBBISH OR WET-WIPES in the toilets
CAMPING
- No camping is allowed beyond the inner edge (Binnekring & 10ish roads) or beyond the bushline. Registered project-based camps will be provided with a reserved placement location – all other camps settle in Open Camping, which is settled on a first-come-first-camped basis.
- On arrival, after you’ve set up your camp, take the time to familiarise yourself with the layout of the city, and then head over to Off-Centre Camp, where you will find a range of community services such as our Ranger HQ, Medics, Volunteer Booth, Kid’s Registration booth and so on. All of these will be good to know if & when you require the services offered.
- FUEL: no large amounts of liquid or gas fuel are permitted to be stored in campsites. Once settled, head over to the Fire Safety
- Plug & Play camps which feature paid staff, are set up for ‘clients’ and are run to make a profit are not permitted. See this page for more info on what defines a camp as a Plug & Play.
- If you have a camp planned that makes use of services and camp infrastructure delivered to our event site, please be sure to check out our Supplier Process to ensure you understand how this process works.
- CAMPSITE MANAGERS: if you have a need to contact someone regarding problems in your camp area (including participants needing help or possible dangers), locate the Campsite Manager for your area and they will assist you. If you’re unable to find them, you can also call on a Ranger.
CARS
- AfrikaBurn is for pedestrians and bicycles only. Unless it’s an art car or emergency vehicle, it’s parked from arrival until departure.
- THE SPEED LIMIT IS 10KMH
COMMERCE
- There’s nothing to buy – and no-one’s selling anything – except one item: ice. For anything else, your money’s no good in Tankwa Town. This is because AfrikaBurn is decommodified zone with a gift economy, where gifts are given without an expectation of anything in return.
- If you have plans to promote or market any kind of branded product (or take photos or videos of a product or service) at the event, rather don’t. Leave all of that behind for once, as the event is a refreshingly non-commercial space.
FIRE
- Bring a fire extinguisher, and a 5-litre bucket of sand, and inform your campmates of where these are so they’re able to use them in the event of a fire breaking out.
- You can use a campfire to cook on, but it is absolutely your responsibility to monitor; you should NEVER LEAVE YOUR FIRE UNATTENDED.If you do, neighbours or Rangers will put it out to ensure no sparks or embers can cause fires when wind comes up (which is often).
- Open fires on the ground are not permitted. If you have a fire (in a brazier, or braai) and leave your camp, put it out.
LEAVE NO TRACE
- This one’s not negotiable – AfrikaBurn is a Leave No Trace event.
- EVERYTHING YOU BRING TO AFRIKABURN, YOU TAKE AWAY WITH YOU.
- The land AfrikaBurn takes place on is pristine Karoo semi-desert. As a citizen of Tankwa Town, you have a civic duty to make sure it stays that way. The only way for that to happen is for you to leave no trace. You’re encouraged to clean up as you go, so if you see someone dropping something, let them know. Loudly.
NEED MORE INFO?
