Suburban Safari Visits Kimberley

Albert Retief has an ongoing project named “Suburban Safari” and he has been pasting up images of various animals around Cape Town for a while now. One of the animals is a Hyena and considering the fact that our logo is also a Hyena, we got in touch with Albert to see if he was down for a Maloof Cup collaboration. Albert and a crew of Cape Town skateboarders took along a bunch of Hyena images and positioned them in various locations around Kimberley as well as on the N1 heading north from Cape Town. Adidas and Dope Industries came on board and offered up prizes for the best photos sent in to info@reprobait.com, featuring one of these Suburban Safari Hyenas. Clearly our “small” initiative got a little out of hand… I hope none of you own pets.

Entries for the competition end Tuesday, 11th October at midnight.

What is the concept behind Suburb Safari?

I’ve been lucky to have traveled large parts of Southern Africa and wanted to share some of these experiences with the people living in the suburbs. Many people in the suburbs have a passion for the outdoors and venture to far off places to experience this ‘distant’ Africa. Others living in their secure ‘islands’ are oblivious to the fact that we live in Africa and my goal is to bring some parts of Africa back to the suburbs. Suburb Safari is like a game drive, where I currently choose the lifelines (mainroads) of the suburbs to paste animals and birds (all are my own photo’s) for people with a trained eye to view. At the moment its predominantly wildlife pictures, but the project can go anywhere as new ideas and techniques continue to inspire the project.

How did the competition come about with the Hyena’s for the Maloof?

I pasted a hyena at the Teazers skate spot down in Bellville and some of the skaters started speaking about it. I follow Reprobait’s site and knew they had a Hyena for their logo. I contacted Reprobait two days before our departure for Maloof and Darren and I brainstormed some ideas based on the Suburb Safari concept. It would be easy: Run a competition to spot a Hyena and take a creative picture with it, send it to Reprobait and voila. The skaters soon followed and the word spread.

How many Hyena’s were made in total for the Maloof Money Cup?

Not that many. I made about 16 Hyenas of which I pasted about 10. I also made some portable ones to carry around the campsite and at the Maloof event. It was all about the placement. Prime example – paste at the liquor store.

One Hyena was stolen from your tent, tell us the story around that incident?

Yeah man, I woke up one morning and couldn’t find the Hyena. We went to bed quite late and boozed, but I never expected anyone to steal the Hyena. I asked around the campsite and someone said: “dude, look up there. Isn’t that your Hyena?” I burst out laughing; someone took the Hyena and pasted it on top of another one. The Hyena’s were banging each other two stories up on a massive building’s wall. Well done to whoever took the initiative!

That was on the factory building – I saw people climbing up there while fairly drunk trying to get photos with the Hyena. Were you concerned someone was going to hurt/kill themselves?

Yes, I was really concerned. I climbed up there one night, but never thought the people would go up there to get pictures. It’s a mission to get up there. What’s funny was that a group of four guys decided to sleep up there one night. They took all their stuff up and camped out next to the Hyena – free of charge.

Where you hyped on the response from everybody?

We got an awesome response. People were speaking about it and asking what it meant because there was no branding involved, just a laughing Hyena. Some pro’s saw it up on the big building and said that they really liked it, especially after the one started banging the other. The Hyena even made it on to Super Sport’s live broadcast. I was amped and the response was bigger than what I expected it to be.

Are there any stories from pasting them up? Any trouble from cops/store owners?

No trouble at all. In Lainsburg I pasted a Hyena close to the police station and the police were walking around nearby turning a blind eye. People do make some funny comments though. One guy said I must give him money to look after the hyena and another said the hyena is dangerous because it will bite your penis. The kids in Victoria West thought it was a big dog and they all wanted to pose for a photo. The Hyena outside the liquor store in Kimberley lost his head and the next day someone drew a new head with permanent marker. I know Marcel also broke into an old man’s camper van and posed for a picture while the ballie was in bed.

Which towns have Hyenas in them? I saw about three while driving up from Cape Town to Kimberley on the N1.

I pasted Hyenas in Lainsburg, Beaufort West and Victoria West, as well as a portable one at a roadworks stop. Most were pasted in Kimberley. We also cruised around with a portable one to take shots with the pro’s and at night when we partied.

What’s your favourite Hyena picture out of all the pictures you shot?

There are some gems between the party shots, but I’d say my favourite is the one I shot in Victoria West with a boy and his wire-car; I also like the one with Marcel and the fireworks.

What’s next for the Suburban Safari project? What would you like to see happen with it?

I’d like to see it grow and be embraced by the people living in suburbia. At the moment I am just pasting around the northern suburbs of Cape Town using my own funds. I wouldn’t mind collaborating with some people involved with a good cause. I’d also like to expand this project to other towns and cities – taking it with me as I travel, but for now I’ll hang around the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town.

Thanks/shoutouts?

Streetslife, Pieter Retief, Leon Bester, Dewald Bruwer, Craig Leak, Jean Smit, Marcel Maassen, Will Twala, Darren Jacoby, Adidas, Dope Industries and Reprobait. To all the skaters roughing it in the municipal campsite – these guys were always amped to party hard and get some hyena shots, real troopers.

Will Twala, you owe me a beer.