Once a year, if you drive just several hours north of Cape Town into South Africa's arid Karoo semi-desert, you'll come across a tented town in the middle of a vast expanse of nothing, like a surreal mirage. Here, huge sculptures punctuate the sky and the desert floor is dotted with art works, from multi-story creations to a field of tiny mushrooms that light up at night. Thousands of people, looking like extras from a hundred different movie sets, wear elaborate costumes and body paint and wander around, giving out hot dogs, popcorn, drinks, ice creams and yoga lessons. There's a circus, a post office, a gingerbread house filled with sweets, a Swiss alpine chalet, a saloon straight out of the Wild West and nearly a hundred other themed camps including dance floors, bars and coffee stations.
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AfrikaBurn takes place every April in the semi-desert Karoo north of Cape Town, South Africa
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The week-long event is Africa's most successful answer to the U.S. Burning Man festival
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The event culminates in fiery spectacles as giant sculptures built for the event are torched
AfrikaBurn
This is @placeholder, Africa's most unique, unusual, exhilarating and mind-blowing festival.
Burning Man
Out of 130 regional events scattered across the globe affiliated with @placeholder, it's the largest.
Burning Man
Its worldwide fame is growing too -- each year more international participants travel to this remote corner of South Africa just to attend the festival, including Americans, many of whom declare that AfrikaBurn is how @placeholder was two decades ago, before it became so big.
Karoo
Karoo
With its huge horizons and cotton wool clouds, the @placeholder has some of South Africa's best sunsets -- each afternoon's sky becomes a painting of pink, apricot and dusky purple, an exquisite backdrop of art works punctuating the sky.