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While talking about a recent hybrid bleisure trip to Tanzania, Rashad Frazier, co-founder of the travel company Camp Yoshi, admits that combining work and play can be rewarding: “Sometimes I get to take advantage of an experience that Camp Yoshi might offer in the future. When you have an affinity for travel and seeing new places and experiencing the world, yeah, it’s an easy low-hanging fruit kind of decision.”
Based in Portland, Oregon, Camp Yoshi creates and leads adventure trips where Black travelers and their allies can unplug and reconnect with the wilds of the wider world. This requires careful vetting of sites, routes, food supplies, guides, and more—everything that makes an all-inclusive trip memorable and worthwhile. Already conscious of the overwhelming whiteness of adventure travel, Frazier was both inspired and challenged by a scouting trip to Tanzania while exploring the possible inclusion of the destination into Camp Yoshi’s trip portfolio.
It’s hard not to feel a little jealous of Frazier’s swashbuckling time in Tanzania. There’s levity, seriousness, and warmth in his voice as he talks about what his adventure—replete with safari excursions, lion sightings, village visits, and resort stays—meant for him as a Black American visiting Africa. Frazier chatted with Condé Nast Traveler about the importance of ethical and respectful travel, the most interesting person he met, and why you should always bring Birkenstocks on a plane.
What was the destination?
Tanzania: Arusha, the Serengeti, and the island of Zanzibar.
What was the purpose of the trip?
The trip was technically a scout trip for Camp Yoshi, but it was also for my wife’s 40th birthday. This amazing ten-day trip took place last summer.
Who were your travel buddies for those ten days? You mentioned your wife—who else?
I went with my wife, some of her best friends, and their awesome husbands and partners. We had, like, an entire convoy of people.
How did you all get there?
Qatar Airways out of Atlanta to Arusha, Tanzania, via Doha. We were in first class—epic. I always recommend first class for anything over six hours. I know it’s not cheap, but your body will feel way better. It cuts down on recovery time. I’m not a fan of “travel days.” Let’s say you have a four-day trip. If you have a travel day on either end, that’s just a two-day trip. The transit should be a part of the adventure. It’s a little corny, but it’s not just about the destination. It’s about the whole experience.
Where did you stay?
We spent our first night at the Elewana Arusha Coffee Lodge. One of Tanzania’s biggest exports is coffee, so we had this coffee-making experience—the beans were cooked in a skillet to release the oils, and ground using a massive pestle and mortar—and we had fresh Tanzanian coffee with the local village chief and his family and learned about the area. The next day, we stayed at the Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge where we saw all kinds of animals: lions and elephants and wildebeests and—what are the creepy-looking dogs? Hyenas! After that, we spent three nights at the Lahia Tented Lodge, a Black-owned property that sits at the edge of Serengeti National Park, and then we spent four nights in Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania. We stayed at the—well, I don’t want to give away the hotel because it’s our spot. I don’t have to? Good.
What was on the agenda?
One thing we did was a village experience through Traversing East Africa, a local Tanzanian tour operator owned by this man named Kheri Patrick. We did a school visit and the kids were in good spirits, standing up and shouting what they wanted to be when they grew up. They had questions about where we were from, what brought us here. Tanzanian kids don’t see folks like us, African Americans, very often. So it was cool for all of us to have a touristic experience that wasn’t, you know, Eurocentric.
One question they asked was, “If you guys love it here so much, why don’t you guys just come back?” There was no right answer. But that trip was probably the first step towards us making this pilgrimage quote-unquote “home” more of a frequent thing, not as a once-in-a-lifetime one-off. And I don’t know how much the kids learn about the history of Black folks in the U.S., but I think what they were asking was, “Well, if slavery has passed, what’s keeping you guys there?” It was like, “Wait, okay, how old are these kids again?”
What’s the one item that makes work travel easier for you?
Birkenstocks, man. I make sure my feet can breathe and relax on the plane. Spend some money on a really nice pair of socks that are comfortable and airy—any open-toed shoe, something that lets your feet relax. It helps you feel more grounded and less stressed. Oh, and I always have my Bose wireless headphones. The ones I’m wearing right now. The earplug ones—my ears are kind of weird—they don’t really fit. These are way more comfortable. I can rock out with these.
Who was the most interesting person you met?
Probably Jackson, our guide. Throughout the trip, Jackson was able to give the macro and micro perspective about where we were, obviously, but also the animals in the terrain, the people—the Maasai locals—all these different cultural elements that make Tanzania Tanzania. It was almost like going on safari with a graduate school professor on all things history and zoology.
Jackson was very grounding, super sharp, and very insightful. Since we were a group of Black folks coming from the States, we were kind of coming over with our own baggage, trying to see how we fit into this grand scheme of what it means to go on safari in our homeland. It was great that he was able to kind of demystify the experience, but also make us feel at home.
Name one highlight of the trip.
The sunrises and sunsets. The light in Africa—it just hit different, man. I mean, seeing the vastness of the world in front of you? That horizon? Seeing nobody, no people, no structures—I mean, I think the ultimate luxury in life is being able to go to places in the world where you don’t see anyone. So to go to Tanzania, to the Serengeti, and to experience that was magical. That was my favorite moment. The animals were obviously epic. But the sunrises and sunsets? I’m a sucker for those.
What was the best thing you ate?
The best meal I had was during a farm tour in Zanzibar. One of the farmers plucked a papaya from the tree. Then he cut open this lime and he squeezed lime juice over the papaya. I might have had twenty of those things. The guy grabbed a raw ingredient from the tree and made it into what it was in two seconds. That is as pure as it gets, man. To me, that was like—bury me here and have the tombstone say, “Rashad died happy.”
How did you use your personal downtime?
Honestly, just by being present, man. Camp Yoshi has blown up and it’s gotten so crazy as far as my time and schedule. So watching sunsets and sunrises, walking on the beach—I know that sounds really hokey, but my wife and I just hadn’t had a lot of time together before this trip. So we spent the ten days recharging our batteries, our love, our marriage equity. It’s all important.
