Founder and Director of theSW Niger Delta Forest ProjectRachel Ashegbofe Ikemehhas centered her conservation career around continue both species and the landscape they live in . Having held her spot since 2012 , she has bear on to take pace in conserving the environment while working in one of the most insecure regions in the humankind .

Here , she tells us about build substantial residential area   relations , establishing   a conservancy , and how her efforts contributed towards saving a Critically Endangered primate .

How does it finger to be shortlist for theTusk Awardfor Conservation in Africa ?

I consider it a cracking laurels ! There are many conservationist in Africa doing amazing work , so to be shortlisted for the Tusk Award is recognition that I do not take lightly .

Can you tell us about some of the primal milestone on your labor so far ?

The major key milestones of my project are the establishment and direction of two protected area in southern Nigeria . One is an IUCN family II protected surface area in southwest Nigeria in partnership with Ekiti State authorities . The 2d is a community conservancy in Bayelsa State in close collaboration with an Indigenous community of interests of the Niger Delta .

Other milestone are :

From a young age to present day , what did it take to give this point in your life history ?

A WHOLE LOT of hard piece of work , passion and a NEVER - SAY - NEVER outlook . I think there was also some inspired orchestration too , what some people will call respectable happenstance or serendipity . I did n’t have the setting or academic discipline that would have prepared me for a career in preservation   – I had a academic degree in Public Administration and zero work experience / knowledge prior to commencing my career in conservation . It appear I stumbled upon it all because I was dogged in my approach in searching for utilization as a sweet graduate .

As a result , I had to work abysmally hard and pay the ultimate sacrifice of not having what some will term a " normal " aliveness in this part of the earth . But it has been perfectly worth it ! I had to learn everything on the job , even to this day . When a motive rise up , I have to rise to the occasion because there is just no option . I could n’t go on on the responsibility , I always had to learn it , do it and make it work otherwise there are several other things ( and hoi polloi ) that could light apart – bank on me not to flush it . But this aligns well with my personality . From a young age I bang I wanted to make an impact by crusade for just causes . I was dogged , dissimilar and very passionate about anything I set my center upon .

Any funny stories from life in the field ?

In 2006 , having just completed a year ’s internship program and seeking further workplace experience in conservation , I approached a zoological garden / nature park in my family state . On my first day as the preservation education officer , I was hold up on a ego - learning term of enlistment around the zoological garden when I saw a modest radical of visitors running away from two chimpanzee that had broken out of their enclosure unnamed to the zoo - keeping faculty ( by the way , zoological garden facility were so poor ) .

With the ardor of my first day at work , and I must accommodate I also wanted to show off to the visitor that I was a wildlife expert , I told them there was no reason to be frightened and then walked confidently to the young Pan troglodytes ( one male person and a female ) . I ’m not sure what my intention was but perhaps I think I could communicate to them in a spoken language only I and the chimpanzee understand ( foolish thought ! ) . at any rate , I got to the chimp and say hello with a big grin , before I could say " so what are you doing outside your enclosures " , the female climbed up to my head while the male attacked me brutally . I rupture myself off from their hairgrip and ran quickly to get the zookeepers . I did n’t stick out any injury from the skirmish but my apparel were torn exposing my pectus .

Any challenging moments on the job ?

Of course ! There are too numerous to name here . First of all , I form in Nigeria – Africa ’s most thickly settled nation . My task site overlap areas with one of the highest human population densities in the world . Reconciling conservation needs with ever increasing human press is already challenging by itself , not to advert that our task sites are located in regions of in high spirits insecurity either from clank over oil , militance , banditry , kidnapping and so on , in which case , the perpetrators use the forests as a hideout for their operations .

We are constantly besieged by these threat to life and have to voyage the politics that create these situations in the first place for dribble out our jobs .

What do you never leave the firm without ?

My camera ! If I were n’t a full - metre environmentalist , I would have been a lensman / film maker – differentiate news report with creative visuals is credibly my first love .

What ’s one piece of advice you ’d give to someone require to venture on the same career ?

This is n’t just a career , it ’s a commitment ! Do n’t ship on this journey if you be intimate you may not commit yourself to it because it will postulate so much from you . However , it ’s an escapade you wo n’t regret taking . The only limit you will ever know is the one you plant for yourself , so never give up .

Sometimes your end would seem impossible to achieve or even lifespan - threatening , but every project has a gestation time period before it births results , so hang in there and see it through .