Camping & Conservation in Africa

‘When you see beautiful things, you want to capture it.’

Claire Davie tells me this at a San Remo café, where she’s holding a photo album filled with the most beautiful and harrowing images from her recent travels to Africa. Photos that tell an incredible story about nature, survival, greed and preservation.

The Bass Coast local can’t remember when she became interested in photography- it’s something that’s been ingrained in her since childhood.

‘We did a lot of travelling as a kid. My mum always had a camera with her and was always very creative.’

As such, a passion for both travelling and photography weaved its way into Claire’s veins, and now she captures stories of love, brands, milestones and expeditions through an inspired eye and a focused lens.

Busy with weddings and other events, Claire takes three months off every year and often travels, with a camera in hand, to unique places across the globe.

‘ I don’t love the idea of doing trips that everyone else has done. I like doing things that are a little bit out of the ordinary,’ Claire said. ‘A couple years ago I did a sailing trip to the Arctic, and it was the most phenomenal experience. That trip motivated me to do even more unique trips.’

The universe (and social media’s algorithm) worked its magic, and Claire came across an African trip from Wilde Tracks. The Not-For-Profit organisation was founded by Chloe Evans and is a UK and United Arab Emirates based organisation that contributes to the preservation of global ecosystems though eco-tourism.

The mission includes hands-on veterinary interventions with wildlife, community outreach and anti-poaching in South Africa, Malawi, Namibia and Tanzania.

Africa was one of the places on Claire’s travel bucket list, but she had always envisioned it to be a place where couples or honeymooners go. When her mindset changed, an incredible new learning experience was unlocked.

‘I always thought Africa was somewhere I had to go with a partner, and then I thought, fuck that, I am just going to go alone!’ she said. ‘It offered such a unique experience and seemed much more affordable than the alternative of a luxury safari camp. I much preferred the idea of camping, connecting more authentically to the experience and contributing to conservation and veterinary work.’

Claire signed up for the expedition and three weeks later, arrived in Africa. She met up with seven other members of the Wilde Tracks group. They were all women, and all but two were solo adventures. But while they arrived as strangers, it would only take five days for them to be bonded by an emotionally life-changing experience.

The group’s mission was to help dehorn Rhinos to stop poachers from senselessly and violently killing the animals for their highly sought-after horn.

‘Rhinos horns are falsely believed to have medicinal value, and they’re a status thing,’ Clarie said. ‘The horns are made of  keratin, (the same protein) which makes up fingernails and hair. It’s scientifically proven to have no benefits, but’s is the most expensive commodity in the world- worth more than silver and gold. It’s believed to sell for up to $65,000 per kilo on the black market, worth more than cocaine.’

People in other countries persuade some of the vulnerable locals living close to these African reserves to get them a rhino horn, as the money they would receive in exchange would be enough to feed their families for a lifetime.

The poachers tend to work in groups of threes, using axes to hack at the animals so it can’t move, before cutting off its horn and leaving it to die.

‘They don’t have an understanding or a love for the animal like the Western world does. More education is needed,’ Claire said.

‘By dehorning a rhino (humanely), it massively reduces the risk of poaching- because there’s no horn to poach. But it costs a lot of money to dehorn a rhino because you need to pay for a helicopter, a veterinarian, medication, security and more- and because horns continue to grow back, the costs also continue to grow. Ultimately, it can add up to costing nearly million dollars to protect a single rhino from poachers across its lifetime.’

Claire said costs for the trip go largely to these conservation expenses, with the group sleeping in basic accommodation and eating basic food.  

While the trip did include multime game drives, sunset sundowners, nighttime safaris, a bush walk and a community day where local children met with the travellers and Gogo’s (which is the local word for grandma) cooked for them, it was Intervention Day that made the biggest impact of all.

‘(On Intervention Day) Our group worked with three rhinos and a lioness. For the lioness, we had to adjust a collar which was on her for tracking.

‘For the rhinos, we travelled in a car while the leader and the vet found a rhino and darted it with a sedative from the safety of a helicopter.’

The groups job was to wait until the rhino was tranquilised, then safely tuck the feet under the animal so that it didn’t roll over. Because the rhino is not completely knocked out, its eyes and ears are covered to keep it as calm as possible while the vet uses a chainsaw to saw the horn off.

‘The chainsaw is loud, horrific and chilling- but it’s the most efficient way to do it. You can hear the rhino breathing and huffing.

‘It felt good to be helping, but it felt worse that we even had to help in the first place,’ Claire said.

‘The group had talked about what will happen in the days leading up to it, but nothing truly prepares you.’

After dehorning the first white rhino, the group then worked with two black rhinos. In between the difficult tasks, the group came across a mother and baby hippo- something that Claire said lightened the sombre mood and lifted their spirits.

After the dehorning procedure is done, the vet puts a reversal drug in the rhino and it gets up and walks off like nothing has happened, yet the experience is something the group won’t ever forget.

It’s also something Claire says she would love educate others about and hopes to one day return to Africa to continue more conservation work.

Wild Tracks Travel With Purpose is not only open to individual travellers or private groups, but they also host academia and organisations, with thrips that are fully customizable depending on specific needs.

For more information, visit www.wildetracks.com. For more information about Claire and her photography work, visit her on Instagram @clairedavie.