Vortex Phoenix Festival of Fire (Ladismith, South Africa) 2027

Vortex Phoenix Festival of Fire runs from 25 to 27 June 2027 at the Karoo 62 Escape reserve near Ladismith in the Western Cape, South Africa. It is the winter gathering of Vortex Trance Adventures, a South African psychedelic trance organisation that has been staging events since 1994, and the fire theme is literal: bonfires, burning structures and fire performance sit at the centre of the weekend.

The site is Karoo scrub and thorn on a private reserve where kudu and zebra move through the bush and the night sky is dark enough to be a feature in itself. Accommodation runs from camping to A frame cabins, caravans, self catering cottages and pre pitched canvas tents, all booked separately from the festival ticket. The organisers frame the weekend around transformation, rebirth, unity and respect for the land, and the programming follows that tone rather than a headline led bill.

Phoenix is the colder half of the Vortex year, paired with Open Source, the summer gathering held on the same reserve in December. Ladismith sits in the Klein Karoo between the Swartberg and Langeberg mountains, roughly four hours by road from Cape Town along the R62. The lineup, ticket details and driving directions had not been published at the time of writing; the organisers say they would rather leave those blank than send people down the wrong road. Other southern hemisphere dates are listed on our music festival page.