My introduction to the Karoo wasn't entirely without turmoil, as the desert revealed its particularities to me in a rather unorthodox fashion. The five days spent cradled in its majestic presence have favorably changed my outlook on life. My expectations were high, yet Afrika Burns easily surpassed each one of them.
Based on the Burning Man festival, thousands of artsy hippies gathered a 100 kilometer of dirt roads away from the closest village for a festival of participation and non-commercialism. Every bit of equipment, artwork, food, drink and drugs had to be brought along, as there was solely a gift economy in place and not even basic amenities like water or sanitation. Encouraged by the open atmosphere, all visitor had prepared in some way to add to the festivals experience. Propped up in costumes and with heightened consciousness, people handed out oranges, lent out bicycles, photographed portraits, prepared food, read aura's, provided misty water in the midday heat or ran their soundsystem, provided huge art installations and, naturally, burned things down.
I left my worries and everyday's woes behind when the tarmac stopped and my cell phone consequently told me 'no network'. Dusty upon arrival, the camp had the quality of an outpost from a Star Wars movie, with the weirdest creatures and creations wandering around the tents and installations. Though home to a few thousand souls, the vast emptiness of the inner circle, with a 1 km diameter, around which habitation was put up, installed a continuing sense of distance upon the whole scene. Around the flimsy layer of tents and people, the empty space continued relentlessly.
Beating heat during the day gave way to a mean cold at night. Arrangements to counter both heat and cold had been made, like the 'triple bi-pass', a heater made out of three 4 meter high ovens meeting in the middle, creating an open air space in which the midday heat was echoed during the night.
The theme of this year's edition was 'time', aptly reflected in the burning of two major installations. With a round shape, 'the wish' would have profited from some wind that would have blown the fire sideways, spreading it instead of having it to climb up sloping sides.
It took 4 hours for the big ball to properly collapse, the pumped crowd fervently dancing around it. Ample gale force wind the next day did what the absence of wind did the day before: it made the burning incredibly slow. The sideways energy of the blaze burned the bottom bit by bit, making it appear as if the huge six-legged man sank into the ground. Only at 5 in the morning had the giant collapsed, the major crowd that started watching already well dispersed into the sound-system's tents or their beds.On top of the landrover I watched the incredibly densely speckled sky, comfortably enjoying my makeshift double-bed. As the techno music kept on droning thru the night, my eyes closed on another day of desert drifting. As sleep came upon me, I felt my mind wandering into another vast empty space. The definition of a peaceful sleep, just like the brochure tells you, paradoxically right there in the middle of a campment in the middle of nowhere. Now that's Afrika Burns for you.
