Erustus Kanga’s conservation journey has reached a real milestone. We first met him as a student on one of our TBA field courses in Kibale, Uganda, in 1996, and he has been working for wildlife conservation ever since, rising to become Wildlife Secretary in Kenya’s Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife in 2020. Now, with many years’ experience, and a PhD under his belt, he has just been appointed acting Director of the Kenya Wildlife Service.
Dr Kanga joined the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) after a stint as a Research Scientist in the Mammalogy Department of the National Museums of Kenya and doing an MSc at the University of Nairobi. TBA has a long-standing relationship with the KWS – helped by Kanga, and this enabled TBA to run three courses at Hell’s Gate National Park with ecological learning excursions to Lake Nakuru and Mt. Longonot – all National Parks run by the KWS. These courses trained 71 aspiring conservation scientists from 14 African and 12 European countries and the USA (including 8 Kenyans).
Over the years, TBA has trained many KWS staff and sponsored one of them for Masters Studies.
We send warm congratulations to Dr Kanga on his most recent promotion and wish him well in his responsibilities of looking after Kenya’s wildlife for current and future generations.