Once again everything started with an email and I ended up riding a giant HippocCorn full of happy Unicorns in the middle of a desert in South Africa...
Images and text : 
AfrikaBurn is an official Burning Man regional event, held annually in the Tankwa Karoo National Park in South Africa since 2007. It is centered on the construction of temporary artworks in a semi-desert environment, some of which are burnt towards the end of the event. Many attendees wear elaborate costumes and create decorated "mutant vehicles". Wikipedia
Bottom line
Someone who I did not know before, but that had seen my pictures, contacted me a few months ago to asked if I would trade pictures with a travel to South Africa and more precisely Afrika Burn.
Starielle is that unknown person who contacted me, she obviously became a friend !
Gifting is in the core principles of Burning Man but trading is also a good way to give something and be rewarded by another good, and in this example it was my trip there. I was so excited because it had been a while I wanted to attend this specific event.
When I arrived in Cape Town, I met the rest of the Unicorn camp crew and I discover plenty of new and joyful people. I knew some of them that were friends that I had already made at the original Burning Man event in Nevada years before.
The plan was to get some food and other goods, and leave early the day after to the Tankwa desert to join the Unicorn Camp, our spot within the event for the next few days. Being used to Burning Man, I was really curious to see how Afrika Burn would be in terms of shape, scale, camps art and music.
The way to reach Tankwa town is way way more difficult than the road for Black Rock city. There is 60% chance to get a flat tire, the road is super bumpy and long. (110 miles off road)
"Changing a flat tire in the middle of the night lost in the Takwa desert ? No problem sir !"
I was not supposed to have a place at the camp itself but my friend told me we would probably find somewhere to put my sleeping bag, burners events require a LOT of preparation, but a nice place is given to improvisation and freestyle too, we call it "Playa Time". With luck the camp had a place for me available and one of the founder told me not to worry about my equipement and camera gear, because it was my main concern. Decommodification is one of the principles too, but why bring all your equipement if you can't recharge your batteries frequently ?
Everything sorted out, I begun to discover this "other Burning Man". I let you appreciate some of the pictures : 
What I can say is that Afrika Burn is different. Smaller for sure since you still can visit the playa without a bike. The art installations were amazing, the sound stages too, the people have the same vibe, I just think we could have seen more costumes. Also trying to integrate native culture in camp art and installation would be a good point. I have plenty more pictures, can't put them all here but you can visit http://gbk.photos for more. Thanks to Starielle Hope and the Unicorn family.
If you liked this you can read my general introduction here :
https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@eyegasm/hi-steemit-i-am-eyegasm
