Al-Qalam 
By Nabeelah Shaikh
Ever since he was a little boy, Aslam Mxoloisi Tawana has been passionate about adventuring outdoors, enjoying activities like hiking and camping with his family.
As he grew older, he realized that not many black people partook in the same activities.
So, Tawana had a desire to encourage more black families to get involved in outdoor adventuring by creating such opportunities for them.
Tawana, the chairperson of the Galeshewe Muslim Association in the Northern Cape, now leads Black Boy Adventures, a platform created to advocate for and encourage black people to enjoy outdoor adventures like 4×4 exploring, camping, and fishing, among other activities.
With his bakkie named ‘Musafir’ (meaning traveller), a 2011 Toyota Land Cruiser 79 Series he has travelled through different parts of the country and has started hosting family-friendly adventure events for all to enjoy in the Northern Cape, where he lives.
‘Musafir’ has been a hit in his community.
“When I first purchased Musafir, the intention wasn’t to turn it into a rig. It was for my farming enterprise. Then in 2021, I decided to get a canopy and I started to respray it and started to rig it slowly. In the process, we were showing the transformation of Musafir to the overlanding world. How I transformed an ordinary bakkie into an overlanding rig. Through this, 4×4 Mega World identified me and said I should become a brand ambassador for them. They started to help me rig the bakkie even further by providing more accessories, and we then found ourselves slowly building Musafir into a monstrous overlanding rig,” said Tawana.
With Musafir by his side, he has explored beautiful locations and has enjoyed time in the wild with friends and family.
“I’m an agricultural scientist. So, I spend a lot of time out in the field, working with cattle and sheep. So obviously, I love the outdoors and working outside. I get bored in the office environment. I enjoyed from a young age doing outdoors activities because my parents were outdoor-loving people. Growing up, my father would take us to picnic outdoors, at every opportunity we got. We would love to go camping in the wild and things,” said Tawana.
He recalls how from a young age; adventure was in his blood.
“I live in Kimberley, so the nearest river is 30 kilometers, which passes the city. So, we would go there, go camping and spend a day, two days there in the bush, and come back. So, from a young age, I was definitely into that. Me studying agriculture and spending time on the farm is an extension of what I got from my family. And then I started to hunt. We would hunt for game, and venison in particular,” said Tawana.
After Tawana got married, he started to do these things with his own family.
“I got married. We would go out as a family and spend the weekend in a tent. And we would put that on our Facebook page. And a lot of our friends started to ask about our adventures and why we didn’t take them along. Then, a business idea came about during Covid. I’m a businessman, and I saw the opportunity because of how many people were asking about my adventures,” said Tawana.
This is when he decided to start his adventure company which he named Black Boy Adventures.
“The company is all about creating these adventure opportunities for families where we take out people and let them experience different adventures, because what I have noticed is that black people in South Africa are not always exposed to this often. We registered a formal company, and that’s how Black Boy Adventures came to life,” said Tawana.
He says Black Boy Adventures has been a success so far, and there are many big plans and events on the cards for the future.
“We take out different people. We tell them about the alternative holidaying. We even tell them that when you go on these adventures, you don’t necessarily have to own a 4×4 vehicle. You can even join and experience it with your ordinary Toyota Auris, for example. And you can go and enjoy the African bush. There is a misconception that you have to have a 4×4 to explore some of the places we travel to.”
“We started to create a social media platform for Black Boy Adventures. We’ve got a YouTube channel, Instagram page, Facebook, and TikTok. So far, we have almost 15,000 followers who are looking at us all the time when we do our events, and are following our adventures,” said Tawana.
Tawana says he’s excited about his next event, the Galeshewe 4×4 & Outdoor Lifestyle Expo 2023, which he will be hosting at the Galeshewe Stadium in Kimberley in September.
The event will be a family Expo for all to enjoy, which will feature services and equipment from the 4×4 world, overland, and tourism destination industries.
