Situated roughly 4 hours from my home town Pretoria. Lies Clarens. A hidden gem of South Africa!
The Free State Province is typically known for its agriculture and flat landscape (you could see your doggo run away for 3 days). Also, Maize is one of our biggest food sources and vastly grown here.
However, Clarens is situated on the border of Lesotho right in the middle of South Africa (Eastern Free State).
Surrounded by the breathtaking Maluti Mountains and with that being said its paired with unpredictable weather which we’ll learn about later.
Lush festival was held at Noah’s Cheese Farm, a boutique cheesery who’s well known for their marinated string cheese. Over 40 artists performed over the 3 day festival across 3 different stages to accommodate all festival goers music requirements.
With the likes of Wheatus (USA), Kim Churchill (AUS) & YOUNGR (UK) along with incredible South African talent. The event had over 8 different food vendors along with some vegetarian options.
Camping was also setup in different tiers.
Glamping (Tent Hotel) At an additional cost are tents of different sizes already setup for you without having to do the trouble yourself. You also get other luxuries at your camp like 220V power and breakfast over the 3 days as well as access to upgraded showers and toilets.
General camping- with a festival pass you are able to camp with your car with access to showers and toilets available.
Family Camping- The family camping is specifically aimed at family’s with kiddos under the age of 18.
The toilets this year was something the organisers could be proud of. There were at any given time always two cleaners assisting at the bathrooms which as a result left the toilets clean and ready to use each time. Creating no backlog or wait for the bathroom.
The festival itself worked on a cashless system where it requires the festival goer to load a desired amount of money on a tag. Once your tag is loaded you are able to make purchases at the bar and food-stalls etc. The bar was well stocked with beer and cider along with vodka and red bull specials. also lotsa tequila and jager.
Towards the end, this beautiful festival soon turned from being lush festival to slush festival 2019. We experienced a storm on the last night of the festival causing a lot of mayhem with artists not being able to arrive for their intended slot and festival goers not being able to leave, as roads had no longer become drivable.
Lush could unfortunately not control the weather but what happened during and after the event restored my faith in humanity. People from all over pulled together to help out. The organisers and good samaritans had 36 hour days to get everyone home safely. Three to four tractors made us feel like Ken Block leaving the farm. Good samaritans offered us sandwiches, water and a place to sleep upon our exit of the farm. I eventually arrived back home 18 hours later (from a 4 hour roadtrip) with new tyres, a hangover and special memories of this festival. Lush did an amazing job!
