MTN Bushfire 2019

So last year I heard about Bushfire festival in Swaziland from a mate who had gone the previous year. MTN BUSHFIRE Festival sees some of Africa’s best artists performing in an intimate and 100% socially responsible festival. Lauded by CNN as one of the “7 African music festivals you really have to see”, and  recently named as BBC’s Top African Festival, MTN BUSHFIRE  is Eswatini’s internationally acclaimed music & arts festival that celebrates creative expression whilst promoting social responsibility, stimulating the economy and drawing talent and tourists from across Africa and around the world.

Each year a multi-generational global community of up to 20,000 “bring their fire” to the scenic Malkerns Valley to experience an eclectic Pan-African and international line-up of live music, theatre, poetry, film, circus, dance and visual arts. A vibrant handcraft market, family-friendly performances & KidZone as well as the recently introduced interactive art and dialogue space, The Barn, combine to create a magically eclectic three day entertainment experience.

The picture he painted for me was exactly what I experienced on my first time, the drive was a bit long because you know, content, the people want content. Before I go on with the story, let me give you a bit of background as to why I am on my way to Swaziland.

I was approached by a long standing travel client to capture the trip and experience, the brief was to capture as much content as I can. We left Johannesburg on Friday 24 May around 2pm with a sense of excitement, wondering what was ahead of us. For most of us it was our first time in Swaziland, let alone Bushfire.

I had heard a lot of stories about what goes on at campsites, stages and how amazing the night scene is. 8 hours later we eventually arrived and got settled in, the process of setting up camp was smooth, this was clamping after all. Once we got settled, of course we had to light up the fire and dress warm for the night life.

I was looking forward to the performances by Moonchild (photographed below), Mr Eazi (I missed his performance), long story short is some people stole a spot we had booked a day prior. Nonetheless we enjoyed ourselves and every story I heard was true.

Below are highlights of what happened throughout the 3 day festival.

Day 2

Day 3

#MTNBushfire2019 #iStockAfrica #stockimages