[imagesource: Jessica Devnani]

In South Africa, we were given a few days notice before the country was locked down.

That gave people enough time to decide where and with whom to face the coming weeks while physical distancing, or cram themselves into grocery stores to fight over beans and toilet paper.

Please don’t do that again when we downgrade to alert level 4.

Festivalgoers in Panama weren’t so lucky. On March 15, the Tribal Gathering Festival was quarantined, and while some people managed to leave, there are still roughly 40 people trapped in a jungle, next to a beach, says VICE.

Some context on the festival – it’s like Burning Man on steroids, and brings together 60 Indigenous tribes with EDM partiers.

Strict measures put in place to quarantine the virus meant that many of the crew and attendees at the festival missed their flights or were unable to reschedule.

On the 21st of April Panama’s flight ban was extended to the 22nd of May, meaning the festivalgoers will be stranded for at least another month. With Coachella, Glastonbury, Primavera and every other festival under the sun postponed, Tribal Gathering is now the last festival on Earth.

It’s the extended episode of Survivor that nobody, especially those on the island, asked for.

Check it out:

And you thought the Fyre festival was bad…

Over to NME for some insider info from one of the Tribal Gathering volunteers, Peter Grant, from Britain:

Panama had initially offered buses to Panama City but with no guarantee of being able to get a flight home.

“At the time the beach was the safer option for us, and we were never offered those buses again,” he said. “The festival organisers were great. They were delivering food and provided us with big tents to shelter in. There was also running water.”

Grant said that it then rained nonstop for days, causing sewage problems. Further attempts to reach out to the embassy resulted in them being given “the same options every time, saying ‘hold tight’ or giving us expensive hotel options in Panama City with no means of getting there. And there were no options for flights home.

As those on the island anxiously wait to be voted out of the tribe (sorry, I had to), 85 people have managed to return to the UK.

Remember that party you hoped would go on forever?

Be careful what you wish for.

[source:vice&nme]