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In the scorching heat of late afternoon, it's the calm before the storm in Ghanzi, a sleepy town in the heart of the Botswana Kalahari. A Herero woman dressed in her traditional Victorian dress and heavy headdress casts a distracted glance at the first people dressed in black who begin gathering at the intersection of the two main streets. Under the blazing desert sun, a hundred men and women quickly gather and greet each other loudly as they break out country style dance choreography. Wearing cowboy boots and hats, heavy leather jackets covered with chains and nails, some with skulls, animal bones and cartridge belts, this merry group is preparing for one of the highlights of the Winter Metal Mania, the biggest rock festival in Botswana. Once the starting signal has been given, they set off at full speed for two kilometers through the dusty streets of the small town, under the hilarious and sometimes puzzled gaze of local inhabitants. In this crazy atmosphere of music and shouting, they soon arrive at the town's Community Hall. It is in this soulless village hall, wedged between two churches, that groups from all over southern Africa (Botswana, South Africa, Angola and Mozambique) will get on stage and play one after another for two days. At the height of the festival, five hundred fans shout their pleasure of being together to the sound of brutal guitar and voices from beyond the grave.

 

 

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