OhThePeopleYouMeet attended our first AfrikaBurn this spring. Michaela Guzy, Founder of OTPYM, had her virgin experience on the African Playa and Colin Glaum, Burner veteran and OTPYM contributor, added another festival to his repertoire. They pooled their photographs and GoPro footage to share their voyage in a Volkswagen to the Northern Cape of South Africa and back down through the Western Cape for their post-festival decompression.

While we could go into an exhaustive side-by-side comparison of the original Burning Man and AfrikaBurn festivals, we feel like that would miss the larger point. The fact of the matter is, that across the planet there is a very real movement predicated on the belief that we are passionate, creative and sentient creatures that deserve to be expressed and respected for it. OTPYM is happy to report that although AfrikaBurn is still in its formative years and there was still a lot of growth to be achieved by the community in the sense of policing each other and the concept of MOOP (Matter Out Of Place) the general vibe, creativity and energy of the people present was a carbon copy of Colin’s North American Burning Man experiences. If you can take the time and have the requisite resources on the ground in South Africa, OTPYM highly recommend checking out the experience in the Tawnka Town, Karoo.

Special thanks to The Northern Cape Tourism Authority, La Residence Hotel, Birkenhead House and all of our new friends at AfrikaBurn.