(words and photos: Neil van Schalkwyk)

So AfrikaBurn has come and gone yet again and it’s time to get back to reality and all that comes with it… As always Tankwa Town still managed to conjure up it’s magic in the things we’ve seen and experienced and the amazing people we’ve met…
 

 
One thing that still blows my mind is peoples perceptions of the Burn…”It’s just a bunch of hippies heading out to the middle of nowhere for a festival of epic proportions to burn things and get high”…Let me clear something up once and for all, this is not a festival, it’s a temporary community and ideal we’d like one day to share with the rest of the world, guided by 11 principles which if everyone else in society followed would make for a much happier peaceful world….just saying…
 

 
So yes, people do venture out into the unknown in search for themselves and general enlightenment and some need the aid of mind altering substances…but for the majority of the Burners it’s a way of life, taking the time to break free from the day-to-day grind and monotony to find themselves and like minded people that choose to live their lives guided by these principles and share it with the rest of you…
 

 
So next year maybe it’s time that you open your mind and heart and come share in the magic that’s AfrikaBurn…Until next year, in dust we trust…
 

 
p.s: thank you to all the artists and individuals that make my heart yearn for the playa. Thank you for sharing your heart and love for art…my gift to you, some magic moments captured in a place I’d like to call home…
 
(see more of Neil’s amazing photos here)