If you’re heading to a festival like RAMfest, gumboots are a necessity. You don’t want to be up to your waist in mud when you could be fending off the grime with a relatively cheap pair of imitation Wellingtons.
Hydration is vital. Take along a decent water bottle and as much water as you can, because once the sun decides to beat its almighty rays down on you, it will most likely also bless you with a colossal thirst. Don’t try to quench this divine thirst with nothing but alcohol, though, as sunstroke and dehydration are nobody’s friends.
Speaking of the sun, dabbing some sunscreen on your face and shoulders is never a bad idea, because nobody wants a wife-beater tan. A pair of sunglasses might be handy too, but leave your expensive Ray-Bans at home since they might get lost or damaged. A pair of street vendor specials should serve you well, at least for the weekend.
Place your tent wisely. It might seem like a good idea to set up your campsite close to the footpath so that you don’t travel to Narnia and back trying to find it when you drunkenly stumble out of the concert area early in the morning. However, it will seem less so after the first person identifies your tent as the nearest and most convenient chunder spot. You also don’t want to wake up next to a random, hung-over stranger who mistook your tent for theirs the previous night, so setting up camp slightly away from the road is usually your best bet.
A first aid kit, wet-wipes, toilet paper, hand sanitiser and a willingness to relieve yourself in the bushes are a must for any weekend-long music festival. To avoid long queues for showers, slightly nauseating portable toilets, or walking to the bathrooms by yourself late at night, you need to be willing to really “rough it” unless you have an infinite amount of patience and an otherworldly tolerance for cold showers.
The most important survival tip for any festival, though, is to simply enjoy it. After you’ve been cramped in an overloaded car for a few hours, you deserve to unwind and have the time of your life at your festival of choice with some first-rate music to accompany your adventure.
Photo: Hendro van der Merwe