Who is Tengwood Organization?

Helping the little-known Primates of Nigeria and Cameroon's unique forests

Primates all over the world are struggling to survive. In Nigeria and Northern Cameroon, a unique area of tropical forest exists where several little-known, endangered species of primates live.  These primates are under pressure via human hunting and disturbance of their habitat.

The primates in this area include two endangered subspecies of great apes; the Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti) and the Cross River Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli).  Also living in this special forest is a highly endangered monkey species known as the Drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus).

None of these primates are well-known to most people or well-studied by scientists; in fact, only a handful of people have dedicated their lives to trying to learn about and save them.  Meanwhile, illegal hunting and logging are still very much present in this part of Africa and increasing as human populations grow.  A lack of enforcement of local and laws that protect wildlife results in a very uncertain future for their kind. If we don’t act soon, these very special species may be lost forever!

The Tengwood Organization is dedicated to helping to preserve two of these unique primates; the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee and the drill.  Efforts to save these species and their habitat in the West African Tropical forest must be undertaken immediately!  We will achieve our objectives through on-the-ground work in Africa. Please help to support our efforts in the field.

Some of the things your donation will support...

Support costs while in Africa; travel, housing, food, etc. - Conservation in Africa is mostly funded via grants for specific projects.  While some grants allow you to ask for a salary, most have chosen not to fund salaries!  Therefore, while it is relatively straightforward to fund a specific project (like a chimp survey), it is not so easy to fund living costs in Africa.  Many 'jobs' offered in the field of conservation are actually unpaid volunteer positions (see the University of Wisconin's primate information network (PIN) comprehensive job listing page - you can see for yourself how few fieldwork jobs offer salaries!).  Your donation will help us to return to our work in Africa.

Support of other local conservation efforts/projects - Assistance to field projects and sanctuaries in Nigeria and Cameroon; where our expertise will allow us to lend a hand in completing specific and necessary projects.  Some of these projects your donation could help include investigative work into the illegal trade in wildlife, improvements to the lives/habitats of sanctuary animals, surveys of the habitat to assess wild chimpanzee and drill populations, and training of local people in conservation ethics and methods.

A survey of chimps and drills with camera-traps - Many areas in Nigeria and Cameroon have not been well-surveyed and few people have observed these primates in the wild.  Your donation will allow us to fund the costs of setting up 'camera-traps' in forests in Nigeria or Cameroon.  We will focus on an area where populations of Pan troglodytes ellioti and Mandrillus leucophaeus are present, but have not been well-studied.  Your donation will provide important necessities, such as salaries for local field guides and equipment (i.e. GPS/Cybertracker units, hidden camera traps, tents, food, and other field supplies).

• Study in Africa on the illegal bushmeat trade, exports to Europe and the USA
• Training of customs authorities in finding illegally traded wildlife
• Training of local people to inspire environmental awareness and a conservation ethic
• Educational work on the illegal animal trade
• Insurance costs and living expenses for Tengwood Organization