LEAVE NO TRACE

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Leave no Trace

Remember the Guiding Principles? Leaving no Trace is a big part of our ethos.

THE AFRIKABURN EVENT HAPPENS IN A PRISTINE PART OF THE KAROO – ANYTHING THAT DOES NOT NATURALLY OCCUR THERE IS MOOP, OR "MATTER OUT OF PLACE".

IN OTHER WORDS, EVERYTHING BROUGHT TO TANKWA TOWN IS POTENTIAL MOOP!!

Cigarette "stompies" (butts), GLITTER, glow sticks and glow stick connectors, tent stakes, bottle caps, ashes (yup!), duct tape scraps, wood debris, matchsticks, orange peels, pistachio shells, boa feathers, rope fibres, sequins, false eyelashes – even abandoned bikes…oh, and did we mention the stompies (cigarette butts) and cable ties?

What you don't bring with, you don't need to bag and take home with you.

MOOP also includes natural materials. They are not OK to leave in the desert – in the desert, things take ages to decompose.

Hay, seashells, pretty rocks that you have brought from elsewhere, plant matter, fruit peels, vegetable peels, nut shells, feathers, coffee grounds, etc. are all things that must be removed.

****---- LEAVE IT AS YOU FOUND IT. ----****

There is no rubbish collection in Tankwa Town. Everything you bring in, you must take back with you: Every. Single. Thing. If it came with you, it leaves with you.

Make a plan to keep these on you and off the desert floor.

START WHEN YOU ARE PACKING. Before you head to the desert:

• Remove excess packaging from everything (and recycle it at home) – store food in re-usable, air-tight containers.

• Make good choices when buying drinks. Don’t bring glass - if it breaks you will 100% not be able to pick up every shard. Buy cans or decant into plastic (cans can be crushed and plastic bottles can be used as eco-bricks which help to consolidate your waste to save space on the return journey).

• Shake your hat/outfit/headdress really really hard before you pack it into your bag - did anything fall off? DON'T PACK IT! Your feather boa, glitter, confetti, sequins, feathers absolutely will fall off! Your styrofoam will break and you will spend a good few hours running after tiny white balls. Make your life simple, don't pack it!

• Please don't bring flying lanterns, flares or fireworks.

Liquids can also be MOOP! This shot of a watermelon-ridden cooler box back in 2008 by Monique Schitzenbaum.

• Plan your meals - think about refrigeration and storage. Remember - if you don’t eat it, you’ll have to cart rotting food home. The way-back stench is real and distinctly not lekker.

What the heck do I do with my used water?!

SHOWERS:

Shower in a bucket using only biodegradable EVERYTHING (shampoo, conditioner, scrubs without plastic, shaving stuff, toothpaste, you name it). Either use your shower water for your dishes (see dishes below) or sprinkle finely far away from camp where it will not form a pool and evaporate quickly. Even better would be to evaporate it completely from the bucket but that is not always possible.

DISHES:

Food scraps are MOOP! Visible moisture puddles or stains on the ground are MOOP!

Lick your plates and cutlery clean as best you can. Then wipe it with paper towels if needed. Said paper towels can be dried out somewhere safe from wind, and burnt. Alternatively, it must be bagged and taken home with you in your own vehicle.

If that doesn’t work, wash dishes with your shower water and biodegradable soap. Then strain the water somehow through a grid/sock/cloth to remove absolutely every food scrap. These scraps can be carefully dried on their own and then burnt (without the sock of course!).

Drying out scraps in the sun ensures minimal smell and easy disposability.

 Alternatively, it must be bagged and taken home with you in your own vehicle. Sprinkle this now filtered dish water very finely, far away from any camps, where it will not form a pool and evaporate quickly. Even better would be to evaporate it completely from the bucket but that is not always possible - but get as creative as you can.

Creative method of disposing of grey water.

WANT TO STAY BEHIND AFTER THE CROWDS HAVE GONE? YOU COULD ALWAYS JOIN OUR LEAVE NO TRACE VOLUNTEERS:

Our Leave No Trace team are a dedicated bunch volunteers who stay in Tankwa Town for about 3 weeks after the event to restore the desert to its previous beauty, record the MOOP that was found and produce a MOOP Map.

MOOP

If you would like to sign up as a volunteer of LNT, go to the Volunteer Booth at Off Centre Camp for more info. Or register for a shift here: https://signup.com/mobileweb/2.0/vspot.html?groupkey=570302900952080123#group_page - everyone is welcome!