Before we get down to what went on during this tour, lets ascertain just exactly who it was visiting our shores. Zoo York is one of those highly recognised companies known by skateboarders and nonskateboarders alike. Based in New York City on the East Coast of the United States, Zoo York has been a massive contribution to the backbone of the East Coast skateboard scene for many years. From releasing videos that are synonymous with classic skateboarding, to hooking up some of the most recognised names in the industry, Zoo York has done a lot and continues to do a lot for skateboarding and skateboarders alike. When I first heard about this tour and who would be in attendance, I was instantly hyped. Firstly Zered Bassett, the man needs no introduction really, but Im going to give it to you anyway. Ever since the first time I saw him in videos like Vicious Cycle, City of Killers, Digital - Diversity and Skate More to mention a few, I have been blown away by the ability and confidence he has on a skateboard. There is no shortage of amazing footage of him on the net, so get busy after reading this article. Forrest Kirby is from Miami and he skates and lives with the laid back attitude and style that one would associate with being at the beach. Two words to describe him are style and control. He has ridiculous technical ability on a skateboard and he makes it look easy, and I personally think it is easy for him. The video that really blew me away with regard to Forrest is 411 Issue 65, but you can also check him out in some classic older videos like, Static 1 and Fore and Friends. Brandon Westgate is fairly new on the international skateboard scene, but after witnessing anything he has done, you cant help but think that big things are coming from him in the not too distant future. His part in the new Zoo promo is amazing and with recent tours all over the world with Zoo York and Emerica, his approaching first full part in the new Zoo York video is something worth waiting for. Behind the scenes of every skateboard tour, video or company in general, there are people who do a lot of hard work to allow the skateboarders to get coverage and present them with opportunities to travel and skate. Three of the good people who achieve this at Zoo York were also on this trip: RB Umali, Sean Cronan and Seamus Deegan. To me and quite a number of others, RB Umali, the Zoo York fi lmer, is one of those people who has done and continues to do, immeasurable good in the world of skateboarding. RB puts out more footage than most and he has been the mastermind behind some of the greatest videos in skateboarding history, such as Mixtape, not to mention the fact that he puts out almost daily clips that he has fi lmed and edited from trips all over the world, and he has also contributed footage to some of the most well known videos ever made. Check out the Zoo York video report at www.zooyork.com, which is his blog. Sean Cronan is the Zoo photographer and he is the man that shoots all the tour photos and Zoo York adverts that most people would have noticed in just about every skate related publication released. Sean gets down to business, - I have never seen anybody that sets up all their equipment, knows exactly how they want to get a shot, gets it and then moves on in such a short space of time. He gets amazing stuff done under pressure and all the photos in this article are thanks to him. Finally, we get to Seamus. He is the Zoo York team manager and a work-horse, but at the same time the easiest and most pleasant guy to deal with and to chill with. Seamus does everything behind the scenes from organising the tour beforehand, to coordinating all the riders and tour crew as well as shaking hands and organising signings, demos and all the product tosses. Oh yeah, he also tries to fi nd some time to skate, contributes with fi lming and still manages to keep a smile on his face. Seamus understands skateboarding on a higher wavelength and he does a lot to bring it to you, the public, soyou better recognise. On top of all the international entourage, the local contingent included Kerry and Dave from Zoo York SA, who did a good job of keeping everyone happy and made sure things ran smoothly, the trusty tour van driver and tranny killer Dave de Witt of team Murth fame, and finally,  Bod and I representing Session magazine and acting as tour guides.

The Zoo York international collective arrived in the country and headed straight to Durban, where they did demos at Gateway and at the Beachfront park, as well as hitting up a couple spots including the big rails down at the beach - keep an eye out for some Zered magic at that spot. The Durban leg occurred over two days and as well as skateboarding it included some pretty big partying from what I heard. After spending Monday and Tuesday in Durban, I only met up with the tour on Wednesday upon their arrival in Johannesburg. The team hotel near Rivonia was to be the base camp for the rest of the week and a good location to head out to Pretoria as well as get around Johannesburg. My first encounter with the Zoo guys was at their hotel and everyone was looking pretty tired after spending the night before out partying and drinking with Zoo SA owner, Roger down in Durban. After an afternoon recovery period (which was perfectly acceptable on the only day off they had), the busy schedule resumed and was to continue for the rest of the trip. With so many foreigners in the group, we had to give them a taste of South African wildlife, so a trip to the Lion park was organised by Kerry who managed to hook up a special night time experience just for the tour. The guys were pretty hyped that they got to touch lion cubs butprobably the most memorable experience for them, was getting to watch a large pride of Lions getting fed on a night drive. The facial expressions and words of amazement were fl owing all night. Not to mention the fact that our game drive vehicle was in constant pursuit by a galloping Giraffe, which is not something you witness every day. The most humorous experience for me, was when Zoo JHB rep, Dave, was clawed in the side by a hungry Lion cub. I wonder how many people hes told that he was attacked by a Lion... A chilled night at the Lion park was a good way to get to know the guys and an opportunity for me to talk to some of my favourite skateboarders in the world. The guys were super tired but everyone became acquainted and that set the tone for the next few days of non-stop skateboarding. The plan every day was to leave the hotel by ten o clock and hit a spot in the morning before heading to the demo for the day. It was pretty diffi cult logistically, because we had to be at one o clock demos every day. Therefore, we hit a spot every morning, then went through to a demo, did signings and a product toss etc. Afterwards we would go hit more street spots til the sun went down. The fi rst demo we went to was out in Pretoria at Menlyn and then there were two more in Johannesburg, at Montecasino and at Brightwater Commons. Although the guys were not really into doing too many demos, they were hyped to go skate, so if a demo had to be done, then they were going to get something. They did happen to mention that we have more parks in this country of a decent quality than they have on the whole East Coast of America and that its a good thing to make skateboarding more accessible to people. But at the same time they wanted to shoot photos and get footage and for that you have to head out and fi nd spots. From the first demo in Pretoria it was clear that Zered and Brandon were the demo killers;they hit everything with fl are. The first time Brandon 360 fl ipped a box, Bod and I looked at each other with astonishment and every demo after that, we were just waiting for the moment when he would unleash one. Forrest is more chilled at demos; its not something he would normally do, so he would hang back a bit, but everything he would hit would be amazing, like a noseblunt pop-out fi rst try. With tight schedules, TV interviews and signings they tried to not spend too much time stuck at a mall and preferred to head out and get something done in the streets. A major diffi culty over the whole week, which has been a big problem for many lately, was all the power cuts. Everywhere we went we got stuck in traffic with lights not working, which added immense pressure to our short amount of time. The guys were really patient though, with feelings of great frustration, they kept complaints to a minimum and focussed on getting as much done as possible. Seamus indicated that fi rst prize for them would be to hit spots where they could get good photos. RB aimed at getting footage around spots where good photos were a possibility and indicated that their preferred places were bumps and banks. That was a good thing, because our country is littered with bank spots but not many stair or rail spots, which luckily they are kind of over due to the saturation of that kind of skateboarding in the industry. They looked through Session magazines and watched Bang Chong and then indicated the spots that they wanted to hit. Bod and I would then lead them to spots and were often joined by some JHB lo- cals like JJ Harris and Kevin Love. Foreigners love Kevin because he brings herbal remedy to lift their spirits. Zered was defi nitely feeling the remedy. The energy at spots was chilled with everyone hanging out and skating, in contrast to the demos, which were crazy and chaotic, but in the end both added to the experience that made the tour what it was. Lets go through some of the more memorable things that went down: Forrest got a ridiculous line in Pretoria including a switch pole jam, switch feeble, switch back nosegrind pop-out and a switch fl ip. He also got a cab flip at Siemens in JHB and a switch nose manny pop-in as well as noseblunt pop-in at Fox banks in JHB. Brandon got a long-ass back 5-0 on a chunky ledge at PTA city hall, got an ollie over a huge bump to rail gap in PTA and an ollie over a huge block into a steep bank in JHB - the guy has got crazy pop and serious steeze. He did the hugest alley-oop backside flips at Emmerentia banks and hit the rough banks at Carlton like it was a skate park. Zered, did so much its hard to remember. He pretty much gets something everywhere. He got enormous fl ips at two of the roughest bank spots in JHB and did so consistently. He got a tailslide at the Edenvale petrol station hubba second try and got two of the most diffi cult tricks Ive ever seen at Fox; a front blunt to fakie 5-0 180 in and afront blunt to fakie nosegrind revert in. The spot that he truly blew me away at was Siemens, he does everything right at the top when most people can only get about half way up, including a switch 360 fl ip fi rst try, a half cab fl ip, switch hardflip, switch frontside flip, nollie front heel and the list goes on. They got a lot of photos, did a lot of demos and they got a lot of footage. Thinking about it now, Ive never witnessed anybody get so much done in one week of skateboarding, but I think its just testament to the kind of people they are and the kind of ability they have. Motivation levels were second to none despite numerous challenges. I guess they showed us what is capable in this country if you get off your ass and get something done. I chilled in the van a lot and spirits were high. They also took a genuine interest in fi nding out about our country and for me that was refreshing to see. Forrest is the mood maker in the van, playing everything from hilarious R Kelly tracks to Chapelle and Will Farrell sound clips. He is really chilled and is comfortable with himself on a skateboard, he knows

gives up until he lands what hes trying and no matter how long it takes, he never really gets angry. He has more determination than I can even imagine and ultimately, confidence in himself. Thats what makes him such a great skateboarder. Brandon is quiet, not bothered by much, and then gets on a skateboard and skates with such finesse and energy that I was left pretty stunned. These guys dont care whether you are the most talented individual on the planet, they are down for skateboarding and if you are feeling it and are passionate about it, then they are down for you. what he wants to get and he does it perfectly. If hes not feeling it, he wont go out of his way because quite frankly he has nothing to prove, he kills it and I for one know that for certain. Conversations with Zered were good. He does so much yet he always wants to do more and looks at others like Guy Mariano in the same way a hyped kid would. That was amazing to me. Hes not tainted by skateboarding success and is still a fan and he still strives for more, getting hyped from what other people are doing. Another thing about him is that he never The trip ended on a high note for everyone except Bod, I think. The last day, a Sunday we went out to Pretoria early and hit spots til lunchtime, then we headed back to JHB for more spots all afternoon. We got so much done in terms of photos and footage that everyone was feeling good and the end of the trip had come so we went out that night, straight from town after a marathon skate mission. People got loose, thanks to Brandon and the copious amount of Jagerbombs he bought for all. Old school jams were supplied by Seamus and JJ That was the end of it all. I had a really good time and got to chill and skate with some of my favourite people in skateboarding. I hope the Zoo York guys liked South Africa and maybe they will be back in the not too distant future. Thanks to Bod for inviting me on the trip, to write this article, and for some special laughs. Thanks to Dave de Witt who is the best guy to drive in convoy with, cause when you need to change lanes he cuts off any other vehicles nearby. Thanks to Seamus, Sean, RB, Brandon, Zered and Forrest for making the trip and for trying to make the most of what we had to offer - those guys were the best to hangout with. Finally, thanks to the people at Zoo York SA who worked so hard to make the trip a reality, Kerry, Roger and Dave.

Now go check those video parts that I mentioned earlier and be on the look out for a SA tour podcast on the net, with footage from the tour that RB is putting together and maybe a trick or two from SA in the new Zoo York video scheduled for release later this year. on the jukebox and everyone had a good time. It was on the way home that a busy week and night got the better of Bod, as he fell asleep next to Zered in the back of my car and was promptly covered in ink. He awoke the next morning to find that while he slept, Zered tried to take his car out to get food and destroyed his gear box, thanks to a gear lock, and he had a flat tyre thanks to a broken bottle. All I can say is sorry for Bod, but the rest of us had a good time laughing at the antics, especially me cause driving home listening to Wu-Tang with Zered while he disrupted Bods appearance is an experience I will not soon forget.