World Wildlife Fund

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The Wild Things

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Expedition Diary - Congo Basin

Education for Nature

Judith Mashinya
© WWF

Conserving the Congo: Education for Nature

For almost 15 years, WWF’s Education for Nature (EFN) Program has been equipping conservation leaders with the training and practical experience to take on challenges in their home countries. Follow Judith Mashinya of WWF’s EFN Program as she travels through the Congo Basin to visit conservationists supported by WWF. Along the way, she travels across lagoons teeming with crocodiles and learns how to avoid a buffalo attack.

Sette Cama eco-guides loading the boat with food supplies for the weekend in the Sette Cama safari camp.
© WWF/Judith Mashinya

Part 6: Working Together

From Libreville, I travelled to Gamba. I was immediately struck by the presence of the Shell Oil Company. Shell has been extracting oil and gas from the region for decades and the locals told me that without Shell there would be no Gamba town as the company is its major employer.

Because of the exceptional biodiversity of the region, known as the “Gamba Complex” of protected areas and national parks, WWF and the Smithsonian (among other partners) work independently and with Shell to promote conservation. The complex’s ecosystem includes seashores, mangroves, coastal forest, equatorial rainforest, lagoons and swamps. The area is home to elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, marine turtles, hippos and the major driver of Gabon’s economy – oil. WWF has been working in the area since 1992.