Greenpop Reforest Fest: FRIENDS weekend
Fri Mar 18, 14:00 - Sun Mar 20, 14:00
Platbos Indigenous Forest
ABOUT
A celebration of music, heart and soil!
An idyllic, fun-filled weekend away full of music, play, digging in and getting dirty as you help plant thousands of trees and (re)connect with nature and a forest full of friends!
Together we’ll help rehabilitate the ancient Platbos Forest and experience the spirit of holistic green living as we plant trees, camp under the stars and Milkwoods, dance to live music and become a part of growing Platbos Forest Reserve back to its original abundance.
What are you waiting for?!
10 Reasons the Reforest Fest: FRIENDS weekend is a magical weekend away
1. You'll help plant 1000s of trees - that’s seriously epic!
2. Make new friends and (re)connect with amazing people
3. The activities are awesome (think yoga, forest walks, eco-workshops etc.)
4. It's an easy 2.5 hour drive from Cape Town
5. You can sleep under the stars: pitch your tent (or rent one from us)
6. The forest is ancient and the Southernmost in Africa - visit a 1000 year old Milkwood tree.
7. You'll be getting your hands dirty for a good cause
8. Beautiful eco-ablution facilities provided
9. What could be better than dancing the night away under a star-lit sky and forest canopy?
10. You can unplug
All tickets include:
- A place to pitch your tent
- Tree planting
- Fun activities
- Live music
- Yoga classes
- Forest walks
- And so much more!
Please note: Ticket price does NOT include meals. We will provide some snacks during the planting and there will be a selection of food trucks and vendors on site preparing fresh, delicious meals for purchase, with a large selection of vegan- and vegetarian-friendly options.
NEW!! Into the Forest - Weekender Roadtrip Ticket - R1000 pp
This all-in-one ticket let's you focus on a full weekend of fun and dancing amongst the trees and leave the coordination of your reforest fest weekend to us! Ticket includes roundtrip transportation to/from Cape Town, a shared tent (set-up for you and including a camping mattress) and your three-day festival pass (access to a weekend with some pretty cool people, chill campfire vibes, an epic tree-planting experience, Earth Hour celebration, live music and party in the forest, an abundance of activity options from yoga and forest walks to eco-workshops and a trail cycle.)
- Excludes: transportation to/from Cape Town departure location, sleeping bags, pillows, all items of a personal nature, personal medical insurance, meals, beverages
- Departure: Friday 18 the March 14h00 from parking area, McDonalds - Greenpoint Stadium, Cape Town
- Return: Sunday 20th March 14h00 from Platbos Forest
- Transportation and tented accommodation provided by Acacia Africa in collaboration with Greenpop
If camping is not for you, you are welcome to book into one of the beautiful guest houses in the area and join us each morning.
PS. If you have kiddies in tow, maybe you'd prefer to join us for the Family weekend from 11-13 March 2016. Also fun for all ages but with more kid-friendly activities incorporated.
Watch this vid from last year's Fest:
PROGRAMME
Friday
Arrive Friday evening for a chilled night in the ancient indigenous forest where some of the trees are 1000 years old. Enjoy a delicious meal and meet new friends.
Saturday
Saturday is a day of tree-planting and getting your hands dirty, helping to restore an ecosystem that is one of the most rare and endangered in the Western Cape. As the sun sets on a hard day’s work, l enjoy a magical forest party! Greenpop provides an awesome musical line-up at the intimate main stage, with some of South Africa's coolest bands (at both fests). Line up to be announced soon! Usually Greenpop plants 3000 trees at the Family Weekend and 7000 at the Friends weekend.
Sunday
Sunday is filled with fun, educational, active and relaxing talks, walks, workshops and more including:
- Forest walks
- Yoga
- Hula Hooping
- Interactive music sessions and instrument making
- Arts and crafts
- Talks by various personalities in conservation and sustainable living
- Talent shows
- Performances
- Treasure hunts
- And some surprises
DIRECTIONS
Platbos forest is an easy 2.5 hour drive from Cape Town. If you are travelling in a car, please try to carpool if you can. Our partners Find a Lift have a great carpooling site where you can find travel buddies and rides if you need.
Directions
Remember you might be arriving in the dark on Friday evening, so be sure to read these directions carefully and have them on hand.
- From Cape Town, take the N2 highway towards Hermanus.
- Take the Hermanus turn off and go directly into Hermanus town. Drive through Hermanus town towards Stanford on the R43.
- On the R43 road from Stanford to Gansbaai, look out for the Grootbos turnoff on your left hand side, approximately 12km after passing Stanford town. (If you get to Gansbaai you have gone too far)
- Turn left at the Grootbos turn off and travel for just over 6km along this tar, and then gravel, road (do not turn into the actual Grootbos Estate).
- Just before the 6km mark, you will see a turnoff over a cattle grid on your right hand side, and a wooden sign, ‘Platbos Forest’. This entrance to the forest is CLOSED for Festival goers. Please do not turn up this road as you cannot gain access to the Fest from here.
- Continue along the road you are on, following the Greenpop sign boards and flags. Turn right onto the entrance road (marked with Greenpop sign boards) immediately after you have passed the Platbos entrance.
- Follow the sign boards until you come to the Festival Entrance.
FOOD
This year meals are not included in your festival ticket and no self-catering facilities are available! The nearest shop is quite a drive away, so we have made sure that the food available is of the tastiest and best quality and served with a smile. Like in previous years at the Reforest Fest you still need to bring your own cutlery and crockery (knife, fork, spoon, bowl, plate, cup, dishcloth). These will NOT be provided by any of the stalls or Greenpop.
- There will be several food trucks with a lovely eating area selling tasty vegetarian (and vegan friendly) breakfast, lunch and dinner options at our usual breakfast, lunch and dinner times.
- Meal prices between R25/R40 Breakfast, R40/50 Lunch, R50/R80 Dinner
- Payment method: Cash is king (no ATM or card facilities on site) or Snapscan
- If you’d like to bring your own food, it will need to be mostly raw as we can’t allow individual open flames in the forest(NB). If you bring a cooler with yummy raw foods and equipment to prepare it, that will be fine. We will also provide boiling water.
- We provide some fun snacks as well during the planting day, but do bring extra snacks to share around the campfire or on the planting field. Try to avoid over-packaged snacks!
- Making your own fires (either braai or stove) is not allowed for fire safety reasons.
- Please wash your cutlery and plates at the washing stations near the kitchen.
ACCOMMODATION
Bring your own tent and camp in our general campsite. Please follow instructions of the welcoming team and parking guards. No dogs are allowed in the forest :(
Kids Only campsite
We noticed some of the (older) kids would love to have their own campsite, so we have created a cordoned off little campsite for ‘Kids Only’ with good lighting for kids older than 10 years.
Tent rental
We have a few tents for renting at ZAR 300 per tent for the weekend (comes with 2 mattresses and will be set upon your arrival). You can book a tent via Quicket.
Camper van area
- Allowed in this area: camper vans, caravans (including tow vehicle), motor homes, trailer tents (including tow vehicle), roof top tents (including vehicle – must be permanent or semi permanent fixtures to the vehicle).
- NOTE:The above MUST be able to comfortably fit into the 7 x 5m area allocated. Greenpop reserves the right to exclude any of the above if it does not meet the required and generally accepted standards of what defines each of the above mentioned.
- NOT ALLOWED IN THE CAMPERVAN AREA:
- Cars (including with mattresses)
- Bakkies (including with mattresses)
- Combis (including with mattresses and/or tents placed on the roof)
- Trucks (including with mattresses and/or tents placed on the roof of flatbed.)
If you don't want to camp (although we highly recommend camping - the ancient forest is so beautiful), we recommend the following places:
- Platbos (Bush Buck Suite, Honey Bee Suite, Old Olive Cabin): http://ww.platbos.co.za
- Uylenvlei Retreat: http://www.uylenvlei-retreat.co.za/ ? http://farm215.co.za/
- Grootbos: http://www.grootbos.com/
- Bodhi Khaya: http://www.bodhi-khaya.co.za/#!accommodation/cejz
- Witkrans: http://www.witkrans.com/accommodation.php
- Farm 215: http://farm215.co.za/
- Fountainbush Cottage: http://www.gansbaai.com/fountainbush-cottage/
- De Uijlenes: http://www.deuijlenes.co.za/
NB. When booking, remember to tell them that you are attending the Greenpop Reforest Fest and that they should give you a price excluding breakfast as we have food stalls selling amazing breakfasts up at the forest!