Africa & the Middle East

1st – International Festival of the Sahara (Douz, Tunisia) – I used to swim with a guy named Ous, a Tunisian Olympian who basically became that country’s Michael Phelps. One of the most famous and successful people there. And while I’ve never been in the country, and swimmers love to seem cooler than they are, he told me stories about the parties they threw him every time he went home. For a North African desert, Tunisia knows what it means to get down. The Festival of the Sahara is probably a little more clean cut than those parties, but with camel racing, belly dancing, and oasis hopping, it’s probably for the best. 11-20th – Cairo International Film Festival (Cairo, Egypt) – Remember when Egypt basically caught on fire with protests, leaders were ousted, leaders were put in, leaders were ousted, etc? That was all because of the lack of good movies in the country. It’s true, check Wikipedia. Luckily, the protests were successful, and the Cairo International Film Festival was born. Check out some great films from all over the world (Hollywood ain’t got a lock on this) under the backdrop of pyramids and a river so big there’s no denying it. I may have fucked up a pun in there somewhere. 19-21st – Cherry Festival (Ficksburg, South Africa) – I remember when I was living in Washington DC. The cherries blossomed every spring, turning the whole city pink, and I thought it was awesome. Then some punk kid told me that everything I knew was a lie, and that the best cherry blossoms were actually in Japan. Dick got to live there, I guess. Well now that I travel, I’ll say that the best cherry blossoms are actually in South Africa, and there’s a big festival to go along with them to boot! Take that dickhead! Let’s see you one up that! 26-Dec 5th – Rage Festival (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) – A lot of festivals have a grand idea of themselves, but I’ll let Rage describe itself to you: “From sunrise to sunset, from hotel pools to toasty beaches, from dance floor to pulsing dance floor, Rage Festival belongs to the hearts and minds of South Africa’s youth. For over 10 years graduates and students alike have celebrated the end of something old and the beginning of something new. Every year thousands of you descend on KwaZulu-Natal’s beautiful coast to mark your moment of change. The combined energy of our collective futures fuse into a 10-day festival that pulses and heaves with an energy and electricity that only you can create.” That sounds nice, right? 27-29th – Synergy Live (Theewaterskloof, South Africa) – Synergy is one of the few full-scale, Western-style music festivals that come out of Africa, taking most of its cues from the likes of Lightning in a Bottle. On Sunday, it transforms its EDM tent into a 9-hour-long spectacle called Sirius, presumably because it’s fun to try and hypnotize people at music festivals and see just how long you can get them to stand in a trance.

Asia

Central & South America

Europe

North America

Oceania