Recent Posts

  • Bagatelle Lodge: a luxury retreat in the middle of the Kalahari Desert
  • Old Drift Lodge: luxury accommodation on the banks of the Zambezi
  • A visit to “the most underrated part of Namibia”: the Kavango region 
  • 4×4 driving in Sandwich Harbour: nerve-racking, but amazing 
  • Explore Africa test: hotels in Swakopmund

Archives

  • January 2023
  • November 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • March 2021
  • September 2020
  • May 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018

Categories

  • Adventure
  • Art & Culture
  • City Trip
  • Endangered
  • Kenya
  • Morocco
  • Namibia
  • Nigeria
  • Overlanding
  • Rwanda
  • Safari & Wildlife
  • South Africa
  • Sustainable
  • Tanzania
  • Travel Africa
  • Type of trip
  • Uganda
  • Zanzibar
  • Zimbabwe

Favorites

No Favorites

Recent Comments

    Menu
    • Home
    • Explore
      • Kenya
      • Morocco
      • Namibia
      • Nigeria
      • Rwanda
      • South Africa
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Zimbabwe
    • Type of trip
      • Adventure
      • Art & Culture
      • City Trip
      • Endangered
      • Overlanding
      • Safari
      • Sustainable
    • About us
    • Shop
    • English
    • Nederlands
    • Share your story
    • Advertise with us
    Explore Africa
    Roan Andree
    on 11 February 2022
    Share Story
    Subscribe
    Home  /  Art & Culture • Morocco • South Africa • Travel Africa • Zimbabwe  /  Explore Africa’s festivals: from international artists to undiscovered treasures
    Art & CultureMoroccoSouth AfricaTravel AfricaZimbabwe

    Explore Africa’s festivals: from international artists to undiscovered treasures

    12 Minutes Read Leave a Comment

    Whether you’re looking for the foreign Lowlands, a laidback rave, or want to discover new musical treasures, there’s something for everyone at the festivals in Africa. South Africa and Morocco are the biggest party animals, but other countries are certainly not inferior. Feet in the sand, dancing in the jungle or an intimate performance in a riad: see the most special festivals of Africa here.

    Festivals in South Africa:

    Ultra South Africa

    This electronic music festival is an offshoot of Miami’s Ultra Music Festival. The line-up includes the biggest names in electronic music such as Martin Garrix, The Chainsmokers and Black Coffee. The two-day festival is in Cape Town on one day and in Johannesburg, with the same line-up, on the next day. The next edition will take place somewhere in the last weekend of February or the first weekend of March. Subscribe to the waiting list of Ultra South Africa to score a ticket.

    Photo: Duncan Rawlinson

    Afrikaburn

    Afrikaburn is the little brother of the great Burning Man Festival in America. The festival started small with about a thousand people, but has grown into a six-day festival with over seven thousand visitors. Afrikaburn has the same magical atmosphere as Burning Man. The semi-circle-shaped terrain may only be visited with a ‘mutant vehicle’, a specially modified vehicle. At the final celebration, a grand finale fire is lit, with a giant wooden sculpture going up in flames. The festival takes place at Stonehenge Farm, just outside Cape Town, toward the end of April/beginning of May.

    Rocking the Daisies

    The indie music festival Rocking the Daisies takes place every October. Previous headliners include Tash Sultana, The 1975 and Mura Masa. Like the Ultra Festival, this festival can be found in both Johannesburg and Cape Town. In Cape Town, the festival site is on the fields of Cloof Wine Estate and the event lasts for three days. The Johannesburg edition is two days and is based at Ellis Park. The next Rocking the Daisies is scheduled for the first weekend of October.

    Photo: Instagram/Upthecreek_festival

    Up the creek

    Basically a birthday party that got out of hand and attracted way too many people; Cape Town’s Up the Creek might be the most refreshing festival of South Africa. Now, thirty years later, it has grown into a full-fledged festival featuring dozens of South African artists. The festival has a stage for the performers, but the main gimmick is the ability to jump up and into the river by the hundreds. There are no VIP treatments: everyone at the festival is part of the festival. Maybe the lead singer of your favorite band is floating next to you on that way-too-big inflatable unicorn…

    Cape Town International Jazz Festival

    This fourth largest jazz festival in the world takes place annually in late March/early April. This event is the largest music festival in all of sub-Saharan Africa. Among the biggest names from the jazz scene are also local South African jazz performers. Just like the Amsterdam Dance Event, the clubs, venues and squares change into all kinds of jazz venues with performances throughout the city. With both free and paid performances, over 34,000 visitors are drawn to the Cape Town International Jazz Festival.

    Festivals in Morocco:

    Jazzablanca

    Jazzablaca is a six-day festival with three different stages on Casablanca’s horse racing track (hippodrome). International artists like Patti Smith have performed there, but Moroccan jazz heroes are also given the stage. The festival is every summer during the first days of July.

    Atlas Electronic

    The collaboration of Moroccan and Dutch entrepreneurs has brought the laidback festival Atlas Electronic in Marrakech into the world. The young music festival has already become a major player within electronic African music with great artists like Ben UFO, Shanti Celeste and Floating Points. The festival combines western electronic music with African folk music, all kinds of art exhibitions and African food. The festival is at the end of the summer season in the last weekend of August or the first weekend of September.

    Photo: Foto: Vince Millett

    Gnaoua World Music Festival

    Want to dive fully into African folk music? Then Gnaoua Festival in the coastal town of Essaouira is perfect for you. This four-day festival focuses on the ancient desert music gnaoua or gnawa, surrounded by pop, jazz and rock performances. Throughout Essaouira there are indoor and outdoor stages, and performances that continue until the late/early hours. Almost half a million people from all corners of the world come to this big event in May.

    Fez Festival

    The United Nations praises the Fez World Sacred Music Festival for its great interweaving of music, culture, and gatherings of different people. First of all, it’s a music festival in the city of Fez, where big names like Björk, Youssou N’Dour and Patti Smith have already performed. But it is the great variety of artists and music genres that make this festival so special. From flamenco music to Colombian harps and Irish folk music: this festival presents various and unknown talents. For the musicians and speakers, there are stages in small riads and on the squares. The biggest stage is at the palace of Fez. The festival takes place in mid-June and lasts over a week.

    Festivals in Zimbabwe

    Vic Falls Carnival

    New Year’s Eve is, of course, an occasion for celebration. What could be better than celebrating New Year’s Eve at a music festival? That’s what the people in the town Victoria Falls obviously thought as well. From 29 to 31 December it is Vic Falls Carnival near Africa’s largest waterfall. The previous edition took place in a train transformed into a DJ stage on one day and in the middle of the jungle on the next day. There are traditional dancers, artists and fire breathers. But you want something to listen to as well, and with DJs and African indie music, there is more than enough.

    HIFA

    The Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) is one of Africa’s largest arts festivals. Toward the end of April or the beginning of May, this seven-day festival takes place in the capital of Zimbabwe. There’s music here, of course, but there’s much more: theatre, dance, spoken word, fashion and even street performances. Fifteen stages throughout the city make up this festival, with artists from over forty countries on stage. Prices per performance vary from five to thirty euros.

    Egypt:

    Foto: Instagram/Sandboxfestival

    Sandbox Festival

    A laidback festival on the beach of the Red Sea. The Sandbox Festival isn’t about showing off big headliners, but more about the relaxed atmosphere of the festival in Hurghada. With your feet in the sand, you can listen, dance and enjoy over seventy DJs playing at the electronic party. Besides the music it is also possible to kitesurf and snorkel on the water next to the festival site or just sunbathe. The three-day event takes place in the middle of June.

    Header Photo: Wilfred Paulse

    Advertise with us

    Previous Article
    Out and about in Gqeberha, Port Elizabeth, the forgotten city on the Garden Route
    Next Article
    Quiver Tree Forest Keetmanshoop
    Stopover in Keetmanshoop? Check out these spots!

    About Author

    Roan Andree

    Related Posts

    by Ruben Bakker
    30 January 2023
    Namibia

    Bagatelle Lodge: a luxury retreat in the middle of the Kalahari Desert

    8 Minutes Read
    by Caroline de Vente
    03 January 2023
    Safari & Wildlife

    Old Drift Lodge: luxury accommodation on the banks of the Zambezi

    5 Minutes Read
    by Caroline de Vente
    09 June 2022
    Art & Culture

    Slave trade on Zanzibar: “I personally witnessed the strangling of six men”

    9 Minute Read

    Leave a Comment

    Cancel reply

    Random Posts

    • Meerdere zebra's draven door het hoge groene gras van Katavi National Park
      Katavi National Park: Tanzania’s undiscovered wilderness 30 July 2021
    • Riad Dyor Marrakech
      Looking for a hotel in Marrakech? These are the best riads 12 September 2019
    • Divava Lodge Spa
      A romantic stay at Divava Lodge & Spa 24 May 2022

    Follow us

    Newsletter

    © Copyright 2019 Explore Africa / De Vente Media | Privacy Statement & Disclaimer