Credit: Raabia Hawa
Shortly after high school, I stumbled into a job on a local radio show. My dream was to be a marine biologist, but for financial and family reasons this was not in the cards. I have always been passionate about conservation — my dad was a strong influence, keeping the family close to nature and instilling a deep sense of compassion and empathy for all living things.
From a young age, I volunteered with wildlife organisations. This led to being appointed by Kenya's then Ministry of Wildlife & Environment as an Honorary Wildlife Warden. This gave me the opportunity to work alongside rangers, expanding my experience deep into the Kenyan wilderness. However, it was my work in journalism that ultimately drove me to establish my place in conservation.
I landed a role on a breakfast radio show and a television gig soon followed. These were ideal platforms to report on wildlife alongside my work on other news topics. Working in media, I realised there was silence around Kenya’s poaching crisis, so I wanted to bring these stories to the public.
This is how I came up with the idea of the Walk with Rangers initiative—a 500-kilometre annual cross-country walk from Arusha, Tanzania to Nairobi, Kenya to raise funds and awareness of wildlife poaching. I've had profound experiences in the field, and I wanted to give people the same opportunity. From this initiative, the Ulinzi Africa Foundation (UAF) was born—a pioneering campaign focused on wildlife protection and ranger welfare. We need to see rangers as more than just guys in green uniforms.
Around this time, I made the decision to give up journalism and dedicate myself to conservation. There were areas in Kenya that were underserved and needed a lot of support to combat high levels of poaching. One such area was the Tana Delta—a volatile region near the Somali border, surrounding Kenya's longest river.
An important maternity forest for elephants, the Tana Delta houses an incredibly unique ecosystem with several endemic species like the Tana River mangabey, the red colobus, and the critically endangered coastal topi. It is one of the only places in Africa where you can encounter an elephant, a lion, a leopard, and a turtle on the beach. Few people know about the maneless lions of Lamu, along with the many unique species that reflect the biodiversity here.
For over a decade, we have been focusing our efforts on the Tana Delta and adjacent Lamu West. Safety is improving in the region, towns are growing, and organisations are finally willing to invest in this ecological haven. My goal is to put in place measures to save the Tana ecosystem and to replicate this framework in other remote regions.
Through my work defending this vulnerable area, I have faced an onslaught of harassment, threats, and intimidation—a testament to the risk and trauma that taint the path of an environmental defender. It can get very difficult, but I find a deep sense of purpose and fulfilment.
There are many different layers of conservation and many areas to get involved. I started off doing fieldwork and we are now doing biodiversity monitoring, collaring wildlife, and contributing towards national-level reports and policy amendments. Today I lead multiple anti-poaching units and Ulinzi Africa Foundation was named second runner-up at the 2024 Africa Conservation Awards. Conservation has been the best decision of my life.