PERSONAL SAFETY

Tankwa Town (the name for the event site where AfrikaBurn is held) is in the middle of the Karoo Desert. The elements are extreme - searing heat, freezing cold, dust storms and yes, even the occasional flood. It is a survival situation - and that's just the weather.

So how do ensure your own personal safety in such an extreme environment? They key is taking responsibility for yourself and looking out for those around you too.

The Basics

• Write your camp address & ID number on the underside of your wristband - this way, in an emergency, our team will be able to find your camp and check with the folks at Die Hek who you are.
• Always carry water with you. Drink water regularly, especially if drinking alcohol. Try to drink a minimum of 1.5 litres a day. The best gauge of hydration? If your piss is clear, you’re in the clear. To avoid a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI), don't hold in your pee! Empty your bladder regularly - especially those of you with vaginas!
• Bring sunscreen and a hat and use them both.
• Bring dust goggles and a bandana – dust storms are only fun if you’re prepared.
• Personal lighting: It's dark in Tankwa Town at night - and there are mutant vehicles, bicycles and more travelling around the Binnekring. Don't be a Darkwad - light your body when going out at night to make yourself visible. Make sure that you can see and that others can see you. Add a light to your costume, always carry a headlamp and for stofadil's sake, light up your bicycle (especially if you aren't going to be with it at all times)!
• There are snakes, spiders and scorpions in the Tankwa - If the weather is balmy, wear closed shoes at night. Check your shoes before pulling them on, keep your tent zipped up tight to keep the gogga's out and check your bedding and tent before packing up. In 2022 we found 6 scorpion corpses under two DPW tents. The threat is real.
• Prepare your camp for emergencies - Nominate a safety officer to manage the safety aspects of your camp.
  • Ensure that you have a comprehensive first aid kit (not just plasters and antiseptic) and that everyone in the camp knows where it lives (and that it gets put back there after use).
  • Bring a (serviced) fire extinguisher along and make sure everybody knows how to use it and where it is stored.
  • Have at least one 5 litre bucket filled with sand for extinguishing fires in a pinch (and keep it close to your fireplace)
  • NEVER, ever – ever – leave an unattended fire, or smouldering coals, at your camp. The desert wind can whip up in seconds and start a runaway wildfire that could destroy your camp and vehicles. Not ideal.

Feeling overwhelmed? Go to the Sanctuary

What is Sanctuary? Read more here. Sanctuary is a calm place of safety where anyone having challenging experiences in the dust (and at our events elsewhere) is able to be helped.

Participants can often become overwhelmed by the extreme desert conditions: wind, dust, soop (sound out of place), temperatures, intense partying and the stress of camping.

Radical self-reliance when things get hectic can look like leaning on campmates, neighbours and friends, asking for help, and figuring out ways to prevent common challenges before they happen. Sanctuary, created by both the org and the community as a gift of support to Tankwa Town, is one of the places to come and ask for help.

Sanctuary offers a safe and supportive space at Off Centre Camp between Medics and Ranger HQ, to regain balance through peer support and practical help with well-being like rest, refreshments and care. Sanctuary also works with the organisers to put prevention strategies in place to reduce future community problems.

Substance support

If you or your loved ones think you may have an alcohol or substance use problem there is a limited range of supports and solutions available in Tankwa Town. If you’ve had a difficult experience in the past, please pop by to chat with Sanctuary - they will help you make sense of it and can help prevent it in the future.

Sober burning

If you are a sober burner, we have participant driven sober support networks that are just waiting to meet you! If you’d like to support sober initiatives, take part and help to arrange meetings and build a sober living camp, please email info@afrikaburn.com

Health alerts

When in doubt you can ask advice directly from Sanctuary or Rangers - we keep our ears very low to the ground, so that any important health issues can be identified early.

We also help people identify personal potential risks and how to avoid them.

Incidents and accidents in Tankwa Town

If anything bad happens to you, someone you know or even someone you see, then please get hold of a ranger as soon as possible. The rangers are easy to identify with their orange vests and radios and are always out and about in Tankwa Town.

If you lose something, check lost and found first.

If something is stolen from you or your camp, please report it to a Ranger first who will take you to the operations centre to report it. Or you can come straight to the operations centre near OCC to report it yourself.

It's really important that if something happens to you, that makes you unhappy or uncomfortable etc. that you report it as soon as possible to the organisers. It's only when the organisers know about any incidents that they can effectively deal with them.