Splashy Fen

Splashy Fen has run every Easter since 1990 on a sheep farm in the foothills below the southern Drakensberg, which makes it the longest-running music festival in South Africa. The format has stayed consistent: several stages, a few days of South African rock, folk, blues and electronic music, camping in the fields, mountain streams to swim in, and a farm setting where cattle graze on the other side of the fence. It built the template that later South African festivals followed. Its timing is also its risk - Easter in the Drakensberg foothills can be warm and clear or four days of cold mountain rain that turns the campsite to mud, and both have happened repeatedly. The audience skews toward people who have been coming for years, sometimes with children who now come themselves, which gives it a family-reunion quality other festivals lack.

What you actually see

• The 1990 continuity - the longest-running music festival in the country, same farm.
• The farm setting - stages and camping among sheep paddocks and mountain streams.
• The South African line-up - rock, folk, blues and electronic acts from across the country.
• The returning crowd - an audience of long-time regulars and their children.

When to go

Easter weekend, four days. Book early - it sells out most years.

Honest expectations

Easter weather in the foothills is unpredictable and mud years are common - bring proper wet-weather camping gear. Facilities are festival-basic. Nights are cold. The line-up is almost entirely South African, which is the point but surprises some visitors.

Nearby

Underberg and the Sani Pass road are close; the southern Drakensberg rises behind.