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NOV/DEC 2019
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ADVENTURE TRAVEL|
“SEARCHING” IN SOUTH AFRICA
BY TOLAN FRIESEN
This adventure travel story was written by Tolan Friesen, a 14 year-old freshman at
Summit High School in Bend. Tolan is well known for shredding hard with his friends
at Mt Bachelor and he can be found competing in the Central Oregon USASA series
on many weekends. Tolan just finished playing football this fall and is dreaming about
powder days to come this winter. In the meantime, he had the adventure of a lifetime
this summer in Africa.
-Neil Korn
in cold rivers. Near the beach I saw penguins for the first time up close. Then we
traveled to famous locations like, Cape Point and Kruger National Parks.
The first part of our trip was spent at Thornybush Game Lodge. There our
smaller group stayed four nights and I highly recommend the place. The day was
spent on safari looking for African wildlife and boy did we see a lot. The craziest
thing was the big lions eating the carcasses of other animals with blood all over
their fur. We saw lions, tigers, zebras, elephants, giraffes, and hyenas just to
name a few. Each night our group gathered to eat incredible classic dinners in
the lodge.
A little over two weeks was the plan for my family’s summer vacation to Africa. Obviously,
you could spend a lifetime and not see all of Africa so our specific destination was South
Africa. It took us a full 24 hours to fly from Portland to Johannesburg. Being 5’11”, it was
so painful to be stuck in an economy seat for 15 hours...not fun.
My uncle grew up in South Africa and his whole side of the family was there so the trip
had great importance, reuniting family who I had never met before. This was to be my first
trip to Africa and I was inspired by what I saw. I had seen the documentary “Searching for
Sugarman” a few years after it came out so this led to my interest in exploring and learn-
ing more about life in South Africa.
My family and I were intrigued by the sheer size of Johannesburg. In Cape Town, I
learned more about apartheid and Nelson Mandela’s lifetime of struggle, from imprison-
ment to freeing his people and creating a shared country for all.
We saw many incredible things that were unique to the culture in Africa but saw many
similarities in landscape and food. In Johannesburg, I ate tacos, pizza, and sushi. Each
dish was similar to home in Bend, but usually with a style all their own. The thing that
caught my eye and taste buds was Biltong. Biltong, is what most in America call “jerky”.
The difference is Billtong is hung, air dried, cured meat in vinegar and spices, while jerky
is often cooked on a rack and has a dry, smokey taste. Various types of meat are used to
produce it, ranging from beef, and game meats to fillets of meat cut into strips following
the grain of the muscle, or flat pieces sliced across the grain. If you know anyone coming
back from South Africa tell them to bring me a pack of Biltong. I’ll pay them back.
My family and I felt welcome wherever we went. People were nice, open, sharing, but I
didn’t meet many teenagers my age. In the townships, we saw poverty and people living
in shacks and tin sheds. There I met some kids who were very interested in finding out
about me and where I lived. Even with this kind of poverty I have never seen people so
happy living with so little.
On the trip was my mom’s side of the family, including my mom’s sister’s family, my mom’s
brothers family, and my uncle’s friend and his family where there for part of the time and
they acted as our guides. It was a party of 15, but luckily some parts of the trip we had
locals to show us around.
In Cape Town we hiked Table Mountain and swam in the ocean the next day. Even being
winter, the water was not too cold and being from Central Oregon, I’m used to swimming
Lodging during the trip consisted of my uncle’s friend’s house for two days, a
safari lodge in the bush, hotels near airports and a beautiful Airbnb in Cape
Town for four days. Sometimes our group ate in if there was a kitchen but
mainly dined out in restaurants.
For me this summer vacation was a real eye opener and probably the trip of my
lifetime so far. Where else can you see huge lions sitting in the shade eating the
bloody carcass of another large animal? Not in the zoo! I have traveled to other
places in the world but saw nothing like I saw in Africa. Although I could have
done without the two days of travel, stuffed into a plane seat, the rewards were
well worth it. I did not find Sugar Man in South Africa but what I got was a great
life experience that my family and I will not forget for some time.