Hello, Sweet/Thing!

The “Sweet” Life and friends do Oppikoppi...

Oppikoppi Festival, or “Oppi”, is a crazy annual music festival that takes place in Northam, Limpopo over the second weekend in August. The four-day long adventure involves camping, very little sleep, freezing cold nights and swelteringly hot days, the consumption of copious amounts of alcohol and, of course, general debauchery and incredible music enjoyed by about 20 000 fans from all over South Africa.

Year after year, I’d watched as my Facebook newsfeed became flooded with status updates about Oppi excitement every July. I eventually decided that I had to attend the festival at least once before I turn 30.

In June last year, while the Greek and I were doing a spot of shopping (I was shopping and he was bored out of his mind), he got a very excited phone call from our good friend, Jackson, who informed him that the world-renowned Bullet For My Valentine were coming to South Africa and that they were going to play at Oppi. To say that the Greek was excited would be the understatement of the century; I didn’t know whether he was going to wet himself, cry or start doing cartwheels. But sure, let’s say he was excited.

As soon as he got off the phone with Jackson, he hurriedly rushed me through their conversation and told me all about the band, Oppi, the tickets and the plans (how men are able to plan an entire adventure in all of 10 minutes never ceases to amaze me) and he ended his speech with, “Ruby’s already said she wants to go and I know she’d love it if you go with, too”.

Well, that did it. Ruby, Jackson’s other half, is a tough cookie with a glam girl twist. She’s the kind of girl who can camp like Bear Grylls one night and get dressed up for a night on the town the next night. She’s the whole package and I’m very proud to call her a dear friend of mine. But I digress... I knew that if Ruby was going to do the camping and the roughing it, I could do it too. And I couldn’t leave a fellow woman alone with two stinky boys for four days! So I booked my ticket and ended up at Oppikoppi 2012 Sweet/Thing.

I had some concerns about what to expect with regard to showers, toilets, what to pack and what not to pack so, I decided to ask my Facebook friends for some advice. Some of the seasoned Oppi-goers gave me great advice and even directed me to blog posts and websites that would help me with any other information I might need.

Based on our Sweet/Thing experience, I’m going to share some of my own Oppi advice with you, in case you decide that you simply have to go to Oppi before you turn 30... and I think you should!

Some Sweet Advice

1. The first thing that you need to know about Oppi is that it’s dusty as a mother! Invest in a few dust masks and take them with you wherever you go. There are dust masks on sale at the festival, but they can be pricey and you’ll be spending the bulk of your cash on booze, merchandise (you must get an Oppi souvenir T-shirt) and food. Trust me, if you value your ability to breathe, you will pack dust masks.
2. This brings me to my second point. Despite what many seasoned Oppi-goers might tell you, wet wipes are not the best way to stay “clean” in dusty conditions. All they do is make you sticky which, as I’m sure you can imagine, just attracts more dust to your already super-dusty skin. Showers are in short supply and the queues are ridiculous so, I would suggest taking plenty of water and a large bowl with you so that you can attempt a sponge bath instead.
3. Another piece of advice that the seasoned Oppi-goer might give you is that hand sanitizer is sufficient for keeping your hands clean at the festival. This, Dear Reader, is a fallacy. You will, in all likelihood, be sharing porta-potties with over 19 000 other people. Running water and soap are in short supply and although the ablutions are cleaned regularly, they don’t stay that way for long. Our attempt at a solution to this problem was a surgical/medical strength disinfectant spray (lovingly provided by the Greek’s pharmacist mom). Spray down the whole toilet area and pretty much any other surface that you touch before use and also use it to spray your hands down after using toilets, setting up tents, and even shaking hands with friendly festival-goers. 
4. Take plenty of your own toilet paper. I don’t think this needs further explanation. 
5. Take a padlock and lock your tent, and leave treasured personal belongings at home. 
6. Bring plenty of your own alcohol with you. It’ll save you having to spend too much at the bars there and if you’re a fussy drinker, you’ll be drinking exactly what you like. Make sure to have plenty of plastic bottles handy though as no glass bottles are allowed in the stage area. 
7. Along with copious amounts of alcohol, make sure to take lots and lots of water (for drinking and washing up etc.); you need it more than you realise. 
8. Pack the warmest (but least fancy) clothes you own. The nights are freezing. Our first night there, I did not sleep at all because I couldn’t stop shivering. I literally thought that I was going to die of the cold. Wear as many layers as you need to, but stay warm.
9. Strangely enough, the days are hot as a mother. So, pack some shorts and cool t-shirts and plenty of sunblock for the sunny weather. 
10. Sturdy, easy-to-walk-in shoes are essential. 
11. If you wear contact lenses, I would strongly recommend using one day, disposable lenses for the duration of Oppi. The Greek will tell you that taking out your lenses in the dark of the night with dusty fingers is a great way to lose a contact lens and freak out completely... only to realise later on that the lens is stuck to your dusty jacket and you can still salvage the thing. Yeah, that was a really fun experience for us *sarcasm*. 
12. Make sure you don’t get separated from your friends. It’s insanely difficult to find someone in a crowd of thousands of people so do yourself a favour and travel in a group. 
13. Try to visit all the stages and see as many performances as you can. There are loads of famous bands and performers at Oppi but sometimes it’s the guys you’ve never heard of before that turn into new favourites. 
14. The most important advice I can give you based on Sweet/Thing is to just have as much fun as you possibly can! Those four crazy days of debauchery, music, culture and freedom fly by so quickly. So, make sure you make the most of them.

The highlights of my Oppikoppi Sweet/Thing experience 

1. My favourite performances:

 Flash Republic
 Toya Delazy
 Jeremy Loops
 Fokofpolisiekar
 aKing
 Lonehill Estate
 Enter Shikari
 Kongos
 Seether
 Bullet For My Valentine
 
2. The great thing about Oppi is that you will always (sometimes literally) bump into someone you know. I was lucky enough to bump into plenty of old friends that I hadn’t seen in ages.


3. Despite the rough conditions, our little group of four had a blast. We all got to see some of our favourite bands perform live which was really a dream come true for all of us.
 
4. We had plenty of laughs and made some awesome memories together.
 
5. The Greek and I survived our first camping trip.
 
6. I can finally say that I have been to Oppikoppi.

 

A long trip home, two showers and a solid sleep later, Oppi was finished and our dusty adventure had sadly come to an end. An unforgettable four days filled with plenty of awesome memories made for a pretty sweet experience and I would encourage anyone who loves music, road trips and adventures to go to Oppi and make their own sweet memories; you only live once after all!