Afrikaburn Blog
LANI I TRIED
Soooooo our little Burnner is offfff soon!
Lani Nieu packs her bags and says Good bye social media apps, good bye TikTok (forever) See you soon Instagram,Substack and Facebook and WhatsApp .
On March 28, she join the DPW (Department of Public Works) and becomes part of the build crew at AfrikaBurn located deep in the Tankwa Karoo desert of South Africa.
This isn’t a vacation. It’s work. Real work.
Lani will be with the rest of the DPW crew building the city from nothing. She will be doing Heavy lifting, she's been training for this!
Lani will be helping along side the create is create infrastructure that thousands will rely on.
Isn't she helpful!!!!
She will have her hoops ( Bubbles and Halo) with her.
She will make deep memories, deplug from technology and make human Connections and work her boots off..
This is a little bit from her burn bubble substack live.
Here is Lani being interviewed by her cousin /
You can learn a little bit here about what she's up to.. Dictation is not my friend but Lani is…
(C)All right. So we were at the cup.
(L) We're at the cup.
(C) The milk cup. The Viking horn milk cup that is going to explain the percentages of people in attendance and how it works.
(L) Right. So milk, like our body, is 70% water. Milk 70% water. So that 70% water, those are the sparkle ponies. Because AfrikaBurn is about 12,000 people. There’s only about 6,000 tickets available to be bought or something like that I’m not 100% sure on the numbers. But basically, the people who come here are the majority.
Because they are the people who have a normal 9-to-5 job, and then they take off a couple of days to go to AfrikaBurn. So they’ll still be at work Monday to Wednesday, then they go for the weekend, and then they go home Sunday night or Monday morning and continue with the rest of their lives.
They buy their outfits on Temu, and they pay someone to put up their tent for them. And they don’t understand that you have… they don’t understand the principles. They don’t even know what sanctuary is they’re just there. They already do drugs and then go.
(C)Okay,
but as with every group of people in the world, you’re always going to get those people. You need their money pays for their tickets, and tickets pay for the whole event so that the organization can continue running throughout the year and do what it does.
So the 70% is what they call the water.
Then you get the 20% that’s the milk. And the milk is the people who arrive maybe three to four days, or say about a week early.
They come and set up artworks oh no, wait, sorry yes, the milk is about one week prior. They come and build the theme camps. They bring the mutant vehicles.
They help build. They volunteer during the week that’s a big one, because during the week everything runs on volunteers. So if you want to go to lost and found, volunteers are there. If you want to clean up, you volunteer. You volunteer to ranger. You volunteer to welcome people at the gate. You know you volunteer to clean toilets. You volunteer to help massage people. You volunteer to spank people’s butts.
And then they stay maybe one or two days later to start cleaning up and breaking down. Because theme camps have a lot of rules that normal campers don’t have like managing grey water, MOOP, and so many things.
So that is the milk of the glass. Those are the people who bring some flavor to the water. They go out of their way to understand why the burn is the way it is. They’re the people who wear the outfits, who throughout the year put away money so they can afford to go.
And they’re so excited to see their friends every year. Sometimes it’s not even about the burn it’s about “my people are at the burn.” Because you meet them there, nobody has a phone, you don’t get their details it’s your burn friends. That one week a year you see them, and you barely even run into them because it’s so insane.
Anyway, so that’s the milk.
Then you get the cream
(C)The cream of the crop.
(L)The cream of the crop,They are there from the start to the finish. They build the massive artworks, lay the roads, put up the toilets, and make sure everything runs.
(C? They’re the burners..
(L). Yes and no but it’s based on what you can do. Not everybody can afford to leave their job for three months. That’s also important. It’s about what you can commit.
DPW (Department of Public Works), during that time, works so hard doing all of this. You can go at any time before the event and commit even three extra weeks before. It depends on what you can give.
But yeah, if you can do that, it means in the default world you can disappear for three months and not everyone can.
(C) Not everyone is that Fortunite.
(L)The benefit of that is, if you see it as a vacation if you can , for three months in the desert, you actually live well.
YThey feed you three times a day proper meals, and it’s good food. When I was there as a ranger, I wasn’t even hungry most of the time, but I still went because the food was that good.
It was some of the best plant-based food I’ve ever had, better than most restaurants.
They feed you well, make sure you have water, drinks, sunscreen everything you need.
If you’re doing DPW, they issue you safety boots. Apparently, you get a stipend not much, probably just for legalities.
Some people don’t have money that’s why they can go for three months.
They live from festivals.
I’ve met so many people like that they go from festival to festival by volunteering.
You don’t get paid much, but you get tickets, food, a place to stay…
(C) You’re taken care of.
(C) Right. So this is now where you have breakdown for us of what AfrikaBurn is… how long it…. is, who attends. You’ve got your sparkle ponies, your week volunteers, and your core creators.
So then my question is what kind of people go? Is it mostly young party people, or do you find families there? That go to something like this?
(L) Love that question.
(C) Would Afrikaburn be open for families?
So to answer with a story the first time I went, I was part of the Purple Spanking Booth. The oldest member of our group, who ran around in gold Speedos, was Bom Bali 70 years old.
When you’re a pensioner, you can apply for a free ticket. His kids had been trying to get him to go for years. Eventually they told him,
“They give you a free ticket,”
and he said,
“Okay, for my birthday.”
They all went, his son with his wife, his daughter with her wife, him, and a cousin. Half our spanking booth was a family. That also answers your question.
(C)The spank family.
(L)We still have a group chat today.
Another story the coolest kid I ever met, Jaden.
I met him when he was six. He’s actually why I became a teacher again. He was curious, smart, asked questions, noticed my tattoos, he found a ranger radio knew what an axolotl was. We talked for an hour while I was on duty.
He taught me how to skate in the desert.
The next day, his dad gave me a shirt and coffee.
So yes families absolutely go. Any kind of family.
I even took someone for their first time he was 19. He did free camping with a tiny tent in the desert. His drum was his table, and he had a little gas burner.
People say AfrikaBurn is expensive and it is but it depends how you do it.
Tickets are about 3,000 rand. But then you have travel, gear, food, alcohol it adds up.
It can be a 50,000-rand experience.
But if you volunteer, like I did as a ranger, the next year I got invited back. From Cape Town, I just Ubered to HQ, took a shuttle, and didn’t need to bring food. You can even get a tent provided.
You can literally arrive with a backpack and survive.
But it’s about radical self-reliance.
One more story a family rented a bus, filled it with supplies… the night before the burn, it got broken into and everything was stolen. But the still had their tickets and They still went.
Please note I'm struggling to free free hand text the whole audio
(L)So many people want to know what to expect so they will go on a Facebook page like ‘‘Hey guy's what shall I expect from Burn”, and everyone will be like “just go with no expectations just enjoy”, But I'm like No, I understand the need of wanting to plan)
(C) Yeah the logistics around it.
Ok I failed lol Sorry Lani lol.. Im gonna stop dictating now.
😂 I should have just paisted Lani's link in the first place and saved myself hours because I'm being the best little admin that ever did Admin.. errr click the link if you want.
THE RUFF AFRIKABURN SCHEDULE (Please note all might not sure if this is right but Im going with it)
27 April – 3 May 2026
Gate Times (confirmed)
Mon–Thu: 09:00 – Midnight
Fri: 09:00 – 19:00 (then entry closes)
2026 Theme
“Through The Prism”
Location: Tankwa Karoo, South Africa
What is confirmed (structure of the week)
Monday–Wednesday (27–29 April)
Gate opens (entry days)
Camps build, art installation setup
Early small events begin
Thursday-Saturday (30 April – 2 May)
Peak event days
Art activations
Theme camp parties
Performances
Sunday (3 May)
Temple burn
Farewells, decompression
Burn Essentials
Laundry bag: for all the dirty burn clothes .
Headlamp: Night bathroom trips.
Luxury items:
Camping chair: because comfort
Portable fan: stay cool
Hammock: chill between builds
Food & Personal
Insulated mug: coffee/tea on the go
Reusable utensils:
Bowl
Plate
Spork
Water bottle: hydration is key
Snacks:
Protein bars
Nuts/trail mix
Coffee/tea stash (fuel)
Mints
Electrolyte drink mixes
Label everything: don't be that person
Burn Fun Stuff
Costume pieces: get creative, get wild
LED lights : light up
Funky glasses: protect those peepers
Body paint: art is everywhere
Small gifts/trades: spread the love
Journal: burn memories
Camera: Take photos to post later.
Remember Addresses, Afrikaburn sends mail.
Unwritten DPW Rules
Water is sacred: don't waste it
Crush all drink cans and boxes
Respect kitchen crew: they keep you fed
Dust storm: secure everything,
Teamwork: help when asked
Leave no trace
Sooooooooo….. This is what Lani will be up to but as part of DWP….
ALSO LANI SAID IF YOUR GOING TO BURN WITH A FRIEND TOP FOOD TIP IS ONE OF YOU STAND IN THE PLANT BASED SECTION AND THE OTHER IN THE MEAT SECTION YOU CAN SHARE UP THE MEALS! Also note Lani was kind enough to give you that info she doesn't eat Meat and she has saved you hours waiting in line.
That's about it I guess!!!