Isabella Drenthen

I was searching for volunteer experiences in Africa and came across African Conservation Experience’s (ACE) website. I really liked the look of the combination itinerary, and after a call with one of the ACE consultants, that confirmed my choice. I ended up visiting the Okavango, Vikela and Phinda projects for three weeks, doing one week at each project.

My first experience was at the Okavango Wilderness Project. After adjusting to the remoteness of this incredible location, I was amazed by how many animals I saw during our survey drives. As an avid photographer, I loved being able to take so many incredible photos and fitting so many animals in one frame!

More and more elephants joined until there were elephants as far as the eye could see! Not even the project staff had experienced that before and we ended up spending an hour just watching this enormous herd.

I was also lucky enough to see three lion cubs playing in the bushes! We were just about to leave when they popped out and started playing with each other. They were chewing on each other's tails, rolling over one another .

Camping in a tent in this remote area of Botswana meant you could hear all the animal movement around you. One of the team members even explained the star constellation and their meanings one night, which was really insightful!

My next project was the Vikela Kruger Conservation Experience. Despite both the Okavango and Vikela projects being research-based, the two projects felt very different. The project staff picked me up, and I loved spending time with the guide throughout the week. The guide was very knowledgeable and wanted to ensure the volunteers were having a great time.

At Vikela, the work was much more hands-on, which was something I really enjoyed. We had the opportunity to collect stones to build barriers that protect the solar water pumps from elephants, remove invasive plant species to help with the ecosystem balance, and even clear the road when necessary for our game drive vehicle. At the end of each day, we would all help with dinner together, sit around eating together then discuss what we had done and seen that day.

I had the opportunity to sleep under the stars again without a tent, and this was fun to do as a big group, so we could spot the different constellations our guide pointed out to us, which led to lots of questions and storytelling.

My final week was spent at the Phinda Wildlife Research project. This project felt like the missing piece of the trip for me. Okavango had vast open spaces, Vikela was more hands-on, and Phinda was the perfect blend of the two, where I could compare how research is conducted depending on the project’s needs.

During my time at Phinda, I was able to observe some management work, including an animal translocation and two rhino horn trimmings! I watched as the rhino was prepared for translocation to Rwanda to try and start new rhino populations there, and the vets explained how and why the process happened the way it did, as well as explaining any changes that took place.

Witnessing the two rhino horn trimmings was incredible! My view on horn trimmings changed after experiencing this. I could see that great care went into sedating the rhino to keep it calm. This included being blindfolded and blocking its ears to prevent the sound of the chainsaw from scaring the rhino. The vets would not do anything that they were not comfortable with and explained every step of the procedure to us along the way.

The best sightings for me at Phinda included a pride of lions in the bush eating an antelope, a cheetah mum and her cubs, and a pangolin!

I really bonded with the other volunteers at Phinda, and after a week of lots of inside jokes, I felt very connected to my fellow volunteers as well as the project itself. I left feeling like I wish I could’ve spent more time on this project, and have already booked another trip in a couple of months' time to return to Phinda!

My views on conservation in Africa have changed a great deal because of this experience. It became clear that each project has different needs and different ways of collecting data. I felt like doing all three research projects gave me the full picture of what conservation is and how important but different each component of it is too.

Overall, this was my first solo trip to Africa, and ACE alleviated all of the pressure! I really appreciated being met at the airport, where I could meet other volunteers before heading off to the projects. The chat with the ACE team at the airport consolidated my belief that ACE really care about their volunteers, so I want to thank the ACE team for everything they did for me. I can’t wait to go back!