It’s a collaborative experiment involving the AfrikaBurn team and community members, at our new location in the Tankwa Karoo, Quaggafontein. The ‘Trip’ portion of the name references the expeditions and excursions undertaken by the Cacophony Society into unknown places, which were named Zone Trips. The first Burning Man event held in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada was named Zone Trip #4. For more info on the roots of AfrikaBurn and Burning Man, see this piece on the Binnekring Blog. 

Our new home in the Tankwa Karoo – Quaggafontein. This is the vast new blank canvas that offers us all an incredible opportunity to embark on Field Trip, our first journey into an old new world – it’s an excursion into the unknown: lo-fi, lo-tech, primordial, beta test. An experiment.

Field Trip is on hold until further notice, due to Covid-19 regulations.

Dates and times for gate openings will be provided once Covid-19 regulations permit Field Trip to go ahead.

• The town plan will feature nodes within which camps will be placed, and these will be spaced far apart thanks to the large area that Quaggafontein provides for a gathering. Each node will require camps to have their own Covid protocols. 
• There will be no Clan effigy erected at Field Trip. 
• The Field Trip will not have a Theme. 
• There will be a 5 Kilowatt limit on all sound rigs.. This limit is because massive sound camps attract big crowds and due to Covid restrictions we need to avoid that from happening.
• The only service providers that will be permitted to operate on site will be trucks delivering materials to site. AfrikaBurn will be running workshops with suppliers who supplied goods to the annual AfrikaBurn event to teach people how to set up dry hired items like tents & generators.
• Due to the distance of the new location (Quaggafontein) from his water source, the local Tankwa farmer who sold water at the annual AfrikaBurn event (Francois, for the Tankwa Locals initiative) will no longer be selling water to camps. Instead, as a result of fresh water sources being available at Quaggafontein, water supply will be available to camps at Quaggafontein itself. 
• Sanctuary & Rangering:  crews registering a project for Field Trip will need to send two people from their camp to attend Ranger training and Sanctuary training in the weeks leading up to Field Trip. Due to Covid a centralised Sanctuary scenario is unable to operate.

AfrikaBurn will put in place the required measures and protocols to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, and is in regular communications with the relevant role players. Ultimately it is the responsibility of our community to practice radical self reliance and radical civic responsibility and ensure that they practice social distancing, hand sanitising, proper hygiene practice as well as not participate in Field Trip if they get sick in the week prior. Field Trip attendees are urged to isolate 2 weeks before Field Trip. 

In terms of the town layout, AfrikaBurn’s team are designing a low-density plan which provides for ample distance between camps/projects. Camping will be spread out into clusters of (at this stage) no more than 500 people per cluster with a full capacity of 3500 people on the land. These clusters will be required to manage their own Covid safety. The actual Town Plan will be finalised closer to the date of Field Trip in order to be responsive to the relevant protocols and ever changing landscape of the pandemic,  and once we know what projects & experiments & camps will be onsite.

Since Field Trip will not have a Clan, there will be no scheduled burn. If you and your crew would like to burn an artwork, please speak to our Creative Portfolio about this by emailing art@afrikaburn.com 

There will be no coordinated schedule. All activities, experiments and projects created during the week will be run according to participants’ schedule. In lieu of a WTF guide, there will be notice boards erected on site where crews and projects can list their activities. We encourage project leads to notify the community of their activities through their own channels prior to Field Trip.

The new location is much larger, flatter – and the ground’s not as hard, which will mean new approaches to ground anchors for your tents and structures. To help with understanding the practical differences, a Quaggafontein Orientation Guide info document will be sent to crews to better prepare for Field Trip.

Unlike the main annual AfrikaBurn event we are unable to have crews arriving onsite early. Please consider this when planning your project.  All project/experiment activities need to be created within the week of the Field Trip. Please however discuss your ideas with the Creative Portfolio, by emailing art@afrikaburn.com

Hell, yes! You’re invited to register a creative project, or as we’re calling it now, Communicate your Experiment. In previous years, at AfrikaBurn events we had categorised creative projects into three main groups:

• Artworks
• Binnekring Events /Performance
• Theme Camps
• (Mutant Vehicles are a whole species of their own)

In 2021, we want to re-start experimenting with different concepts. We’re not sure exactly how it’s going to work, but that’s also what this Field Trip is about – let’s try things and see what and how it works (we’re trying a new space, to start with).

Experiment communications will be remarkably slimmed down. We’re looking to simplify the process for attendees and the operations team. These forms will be available on our website soon – but if you’d like to start discussions about your project plans, email our team on art@afrikaburn.com

At this time, 3500 Camping Tickets will be available for Field Trip. Crews contributing to the Field Trip with a project/experiment will get access to the 3000 Direct Distribution Camping Tickets (DDT’s) available for their crew. DDT allocations will start on: Monday 25th January. DDT recipients will have until Friday 26 February 2021 to purchase their camping tickets. 500 Camping tickets will be available in the General Sale, along with any unsold DDT’s, which will be added to the General Sale, which will take place at 12h00 on Tuesday 2nd March 2021.

The only reduced priced tickets available for the field Trip will be the subsidised Anathi Tickets, which are awarded on application. Preference will be given to those who applied for the main event tickets in 2020 – Access Grants are not guaranteed to be available for Field Trip but camping resources can be made available.

What will the Camping tickets cost? Due to the ever changing landscape of Covid, we are not sure yet, but as a non-profit organisation, we work on a cost recovery basis and thus aim to keep the price as low as possible. We’re working on budgets and will be able to announce the ticket prices soon – stay tuned.

Refund Policy: AfrikaBurn’s standard No Refund policy to date has been:  “Tickets are non-refundable even if the event is terminated or cancelled due to harsh weather, acts of nature, governmental regulation or other conditions beyond AfrikaBurn’s control.” And while COVID remains a condition beyond our control, we are working on a specific COVID clause that will ensure a partial refund if the Government halts proceedings. This will be communicated well before Camping DDTs are allocated to crews.

AfrikaBurn’s insurance claim is still pending resolution at the UK Financial Ombudsman – and until a final (negative) ruling is obtained, coupons are not able to be issued. In case you missed it, take a look at our previous announcements about the options that were made available to ticket holders that had purchased tickets to our cancelled 2020 main annual event. Should an unfavourable ruling be made between now and Field Trip, AfrikaBurn will allow

1. a limited number of motivations for event coupon redemption at Field Trip; and
2. redemption of camping coupons for Field Trip. 

It is important to note, however:

1. Field Trip is not a main annual AfrikaBurn event, and any event coupons issued will be redeemable against a main annual AfrikaBurn event in the future, which we hope will go ahead in 2022. 
2.  Coupons will only be issued upon a final unfavourable ruling by the UK Ombudsman, on AfrikaBurn’s repudiated insurance claim.

There are many ways you’re able to get involved in the Field Trip as a volunteer, including assisting with lead-up operational tasks that suit your specific skills and interests, as well as helping with Volunteer Workshops prior to and during Field Trip. Volunteers who were supposed to be allocated a Reduced-Price DDT for the main annual 2020 event will be offered a DDT for Field Trip. Their reduced priced DDT will be redeemable for the main AfrikaBurn event in 2022.

Volunteers are welcome to get involved in the following capacities during (and after) Field Trip: 

Lost & Found
Welcome crew at the gate.
MOOP teams
Leave no Trace Teams
Water Sales
Ice Sales
Collexodus
Composting
Workshops – Managing & Running
Quagga Love (Habitat regeneration and restoration camps)

Only private pilots will be able to land at the Quaggafontein unmanned airstrip, and as such will need to operate as per standard unmanned airstrip rules, as required by the Civil Aviation Authority. There will be no commercial charter flights to Field Trip.