For most tourists, an African safari means up-close encounters with elephants and lions in the bush.
But a group of Dutch and South African artists have pioneered a new kind of wild adventure by inviting guests to camp in the heart of Johannesburg’s city centre, where gun crime is rife and thousands of illegal immigrants cram into derelict buildings controlled by slumlords.
Organisers of the experimental ”Cascoland” project hope their campsite in one of Johannesburg’s roughest areas will curb crime and help smash barriers between rich and poor as well as black and white.
Guests pay R25 to sleep in tents on the roof of a former army barracks. They get ear-plugs to shut out the periodic bangs — ranging from gun shots to car backfires — and the strains of Congolese disco music from street peddlers.
Breakfast is delivered to each tent before local guides take guests on a walking tour of the neighbourhood — where an unaccompanied stroll usually might invite a mugging, or worse.
The guides explain how the city’s informal economy works and introduce guests — usually from the city’s upmarket suburbs — to Mozambican mechanics, Nigerian stall-holders and sometimes even the area’s prostitutes.
”We want to break down barriers between people and to challenge the mentality of walls and fences in South Africa,” said Roel Schoenmakrs, a Dutch artist and co-founder of Cascoland, which ran similar projects in Cape Town and Holland.
Due to the legacy of apartheid, South Africa’s cities are still divided, at least partly, along colour lines, and rampant crime means the well-heeled usually stay away from the rougher parts of town.
Schoenmakrs said no one was hurt during the 10-day experiment earlier this month. He argued that crime had dropped as organisers cleaned up the area and involved local people in animation projects and street art.
White flight
As well as running the campsite, artists from Holland and South Africa showed films, converted a former shooting range into a play space and swimming pool for local kids and invited choirs and dance troupes to perform.
They also employed local people to cook food and encouraged informal mechanics in the area to fix cars for guests.
White people fled Johannesburg’s city centre after apartheid ended in 1994, making way for thousands of illegal immigrants, who live mostly in abandoned buildings controlled by gangs.
The area was virtually lawless for years, but city officials are slowly cleaning it up in a bid to attract investment ahead of 2010, when South Africa hosts the soccer World Cup.
Cascoland co-founder Fiona de Bell conceded the project would probably not have much long-term impact. But she hoped it would inspire others to think creatively about using public space in the city centre.
”It’s about reactivating public space and getting people involved,” she said. ”We have created a lot of energy in very little time and it creates a spark for other initiatives.” — Reuters