A not so Splashy Fen: An American's journey into the heart of South Africa

I’d been in Jozi for about three days when I first heard about Splashy Fen. A four-day camping and music festival? It couldn’t be any more my scene.

“It’s difficult, you probably won’t be able to get there,” my orientation leader’s son said. Challenge accepted.

For the next week, I asked everyone I met about it. One thing led to another, the stars aligned and God smiled and gave me a playful wink.

Fast forward about a week later, and you’ve got this 21-year-old American girl, who’s been in South Africa for less than two weeks, en route to the 23 Annual Splashy Fen Music Festival in Drakensburg to experience the best weekend of her young life.

The journey began driving down the N3, with The Shins blasting on repeat through the car stereo. Another intern at The Times, Nick and myself made our way through Gauteng’s hectic traffic, hit the acrid dryness of Free State and finally entered into the mountainous and lush Kwazulu Natal. We arrived at Splashy at about 7pm.

It was just in time to meet our camping neighbours and head out to the main stage, to see the Durban Indie Rock ‘n Rollers, the City Bowl Mizers deliver a killer set.

The hour-long set was fun, upbeat and Splashy-ly carefree. Marty Barrios, the lead singer, belted his heart out with a permanent smile plastered on his face. 

“We don’t take life to seriously,” Barrios later told me. “Our music ethics are definitely a punk rock style of music – it’s also sort of exploitive pop.[…] We think you have to let loose, we can let the indie and emo bands write about the serious stuff.”

After their set, we explored the area, checking out the smaller stage and strolling through the food stalls and other campgrounds.

The food vendors sold everything I could have asked for and more: bunny chow, chip twists, samoosas and roti rolls.

There was so much to try and so little time. (Don’t worry, I got it all covered.) My friend Kevin was especially keen of the chip twisters... He must have eaten at least five in one day.

Though the days were terribly hot, and the nights unbearably cold, my gumboots stayed dry as the infamous rainclouds managed to stay hidden throughout the festival. Win.

At night, we warmed up by campfire under a beautifully clear starry night sky. We unsuccessfully tried to sleep amid the acoustic guitars and bongo drums. Instead we emerged from our tents and joined the drunken chorus, singing until the sun came up.

Friday began with the Super Rugby match with the Hurricanes vs Sharks playing both at the main stage and in the beer tent.

“You have to cheer for the Sharks,” my fellow campers warned me on our way to the tent.

Each time the referee made an anti-Sharks call, the whole tent rumbled. Fans yelled and screamed at the projector – even though I was never quite sure why I yelled too. 

Even though the Sharks lost...alas, the show must go on.

The day’s highlights included Splashy featured act, Madala Kunene, a guitarist with 11 Splashys under his belt. Other Friday favorites at the main stage were guitarist Dan Patlansky, electronica artists Veranda Panda and psychedelic-bass-rap PH Fat.

“Patlansky is the best guitarist in the whole country”, Nick said as we walked towards the performance. The whole stage was full and fans eagerly cheered as he ripped on his electric guitar. I felt like I was watching the South African Jimi Hendrix.

Though it’s not necessarily my style of music, I will say I was blown away.

Just after Veranda Panda’s set, the emcee allowed an audience member on stage to propose to his now fiancée. Ahh, Splashy Fen love.

Over at the Splashy Marquee, folk artists took over the stage. Favorites were The Trees, The Hinds Brothers, Fulka and the Hairy Legged Lentil Eaters.

The Hairy Legged Lentil Eaters, a festival favourite, garnered quite a crowd. The six-person folk rock band has been playing at the festival since its beginnings and were loved by all.

On Saturday, it was all about reggae and ska, kicking off with Durban reggae/ska band Fruits & Veggies.

Later in the day The Rudimentals and Hog Hoggidy Hog kept the groove going at the main stage. This was the day where the main stage was probably at its fullest. Zebra and Giraffe, an Indie band from Joburg were also a big hit, I didn’t personally see what the big deal was.

Every night as the main music tents started to slow down, the festival’s first ever electronic dance music, Uber Cool Dance Valley, started to get going. It was a private campsite, for which attendees had to pay R30 entrance. But that didn’t deter partiers, especially on Saturday night. By midnight the tent was packed to see Joburg DJ DEEZIAK who was joined by emcee Cosmo.

“The fact that electronic music is at Splashy means that electro music in South Africa is bigger than everyone”, 20-year-old emcee Bonko Khoza, known by his stage name as ‘Cosmo’, said. “I tried to stage dive and fell on my head, but they gave me a kiss and sent me right back up”.

After the electro tent, it was back to the campsite to warm up and sing around a campfire till the sun came up.

These were the moments I loved most. Experiencing nature and building deep and meaningful relationships with strangers in a foreign land – it’s a festival based around community. It seemed that by the end of the festival we were all one Splashy Fen family.

The bands didn’t restrict themselves to their own areas, they sat and listened to their favorite artists as well. They got drunk at the beer tent with us all. They braved and showered in the frigid lake alongside us all.

The force of camaraderie between nearly 4 000 festival goers was palpable. It was beautiful.

On Sunday reality started to set in, people were packing up and beginning the transformation back from campers into students and professionals in the working world.

It was a particularly windy day. My own tent was nearly picked up by the wind, forcing me to stay and sleep in just to keep it from ending up in the lake. The strong gusts carried right on through the day, causing a gazebo next to the main tent blow entirely over, injuring one camper with a knock to the head. She was taken to the hospital and fortunately rumored to have been recovering well.

On the music front, some great bands hit the stage, including young Joburg rock band, The Stella’s. Later in the day Shadowclub filled up the main stage with an incredible hour long set. My night ended at the Splashy Fen Marquee with a fantastic performance from Durban rockers, AVADE.

On the way back to the campsite for my final Splashy night, I stumbled upon an impromptu drum circle, which started out with about seven and grew to nearly 30 people. We played and sang deep into the night just to keep the festival going as long as possible.

After banging on drums and singing Indian mantras until nearly 1 a.m., I headed back to my tent to try – albeit unsuccessfully – catch a few hours of sleep before hitching an early ride back to Jozi.

With less than six hours of sleep, one shower in the past 4 days, and the smell of campfire permanently soaked into my hair, I have survived and fallen utterly and head over heels in love with Splashy Fen.

Here's a taste of what we experienced. Enjoy!