By David Akana, Yannick Kenné – Monga Bay
- Marlyse Bebeguewa, once a teenage porter in the rainforests of southeastern Cameroon, now leads conservation monitoring efforts in Lobéké National Park, using cutting-edge tools to protect endangered wildlife.
- She was the only woman selected during a 2014 recruitment drive and has broken gender barriers in a male-dominated field by mentoring young women and championing inclusive conservation.
- Her story is one of many among Indigenous and local communities — both Baka and Bantu — helping to manage one of Cameroon’s most biodiverse forest landscapes.
Mambélé, CAMEROON — When most 18-year-olds envision their future, few imagine carrying heavy loads through dense equatorial forest. Yet for Marlyse Bebeguewa, now a 38-year-old forest monitoring consultant in Cameroon’s Lobéké National Park, that was just the beginning of an impactful conservation career.
“I feel fine, as usual. I’m not tired. I’m actually happy to be working with some people — it energizes me,” Bebeguewa told Mongabay Africa when we sat down with her for an interview recently in Lobéké National Park. “I don’t get tired; I’m always on the move and motivated.”
Born into a Bantu family in 1987, Bebeguewa was one of eight children raised by her mother after her father’s death. He had fallen ill and died while assisting scientists conducting research in the pristine forests of southeastern Cameroon. The loss plunged the family into financial hardship, forcing Bebeguewa to leave her studies before completing high school.
“After dropping out, I had nothing to do,” she explained. “Since my father worked in the forest, I thought I could follow that path.”
Bebeguewa’s journey from a school dropout to a conservation professional is among the many underreported stories of women working in conservation across Africa — often bridging the gap between scientific research, community knowledge and forest protection in some of the region’s most remote landscapes.
In 2009, as a young girl, she approached the nascent conservation service and joined the porters’ team, carrying supplies into the uncharted rainforest. That same year, she seized a second opportunity: Community members living around what is now Lobéké National Park were invited by the conservation service to train as tourist guides in Bayanga, in neighboring Central African Republic.
“I applied and was accepted,” she recalled. “After training, I continued guiding tourists and working in the forest. That’s where my journey truly began.”
Breaking barriers
For five years, Bebeguewa honed her field skills, until the park’s 2014’s recruitment drive for ecological monitoring assistants. Out of dozens of applicants, she was the only woman chosen — and immediately appointed team leader.
“I applied and was the only woman selected,” she said with pride evident in her voice. “Today, I’m a consultant working on monitoring.”
Her rise coincided with Lobéké’s formal creation in 2001. In 2020, she advanced again, joining as a biology intern and volunteer before assuming her current consulting role with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) as a consultant. Through the years, she’s also broken gender barriers in a male-dominated field by mentoring young women.
“Through this work, I’ve built my house, send my kids to school and even support children I’ve adopted,” Bebeguewa shared. “I’m committed to helping others go further.”
Harnessing technology for conservation
In the remote southeast of Cameroon, gone are the days of purely manual patrols. With training and equipment from WWF, Bebeguewa now deploys acoustic sensors and camera traps to track everything from forest elephants (Loxodonta africana cyclotis) to western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) trumpeting to poachers’ gunshots.
“These tools allow us to detect species like gorillas or nocturnal animals,” she noted, “and the data helps guide anti-poaching patrols and inform tourism planning.”
Working in remote forest terrain comes with serious risks. During one particularly harrowing mission, Bebeguewa trekked 70 kilometers (43 miles) in a single day to report a colleague’s disappearance to Lobéké National Park headquarters in Mambélé, located in the Boumba-et-Ngoko Division of eastern Cameroon. It was an arduous feat made even more challenging by the lack of reliable communication tools. During Mongabay Africa’s recent visit to the park, we noted that forest guards in the field did not use handheld radios or rely on them for communications.
“We need more communication tools,” she said. “Right now, we have just a few radios, which aren’t enough for all teams.”
The Lobéké National Park faces serious challenges that hinder its potential as an ecotourism hub. Despite its vast biodiversity, the park remains severely underfunded and generates relatively low tourism revenue. Ecotourism is nearly nonexistent — with only 96 visitors recorded in 2016, according to a case study by the Centre for Rural Development Berlin. Slightly more than 100 people visited the park in 2024, according to park officials.
Bridging communities: Bantu and Baka
Lobéké’s mosaic of Bantu and Baka peoples presents another arena for Bebeguewa’s diplomacy. A proud Bantu herself, she works tirelessly to include the Baka — Cameroon’s Indigenous “forest people” — in conservation activities.
“We coexist peacefully,” Bebeguewa said. “When problems arise, we resolve them through dialogue.” Lobéké National Park is jointly managed by WWF and the government of Cameroon. According to Bebeguewa, the park’s success relies heavily on the involvement of both Baka and Bantu communities. She notes that the management team often includes members of both groups, even those who haven’t been formally recruited.
Despite Bebeguewa’s efforts to ensure both communities work together, relations between the Baka and Bantu communities remain strained and marked by ongoing challenges.
The 2016 case study of the park found that internal tensions between the Baka and Bantu posed obstacles to equitable community development. These intercommunity conflicts often undermined efforts to address the specific needs and aspirations of Indigenous people, the study concluded.
The study also called for development approaches that recognize the Bakas’ desire for socio-economic integration—such as access to schools, health care and employment — while also respecting their deep cultural ties to the forest. In addition, it emphasized the need to include Bantu communities as part of these efforts to avoid reinforcing divisions and to promote more equitable, inclusive governance around Lobéké National Park.
‘It’s a tough environment to work in’
Despite her achievements, Bebeguewa spoke openly about Lobéké’s challenges: elephant numbers are only just rebounding from intense poaching, and the park’s isolation makes both protection and tourism difficult. At roughly 750 km (470 mi) from Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital, reaching Lobéké National Park took the Mongabay team two days by road, a trip that can stretch even longer once the rains begin.
“Tourism holds great promise in Lobéké — we recorded 117 visitors last year,” said Donatien Joseph Guy Biloa, conservator of Lobéké National Park. However, he acknowledged that poor road conditions were a major obstacle to developing the park’s ecotourism. “Poor road infrastructure remains a major barrier. Access to Lobéké is difficult; the roads are in terrible condition. Many potential visitors cancel their trips because of it. Only the most passionate tourists, truly committed, make it all the way to the park.”
“It’s a tough environment to work in,” Bebeguewa said. “There are many threats, including the remoteness of the terrain.”
Still, hope endures. Bebeguewa dreams that one day her own children — or even grandchildren — will carry on the work she began so long ago.
“Even if I’m no longer working there someday, I hope my children or grandchildren will continue in this field.”
Indigenous people and local communities have often been marginalized in national and international debates around the management of their resources, though their roles as stewards are increasingly recognized. If given the chance to address an international audience, she has a simple message: “Lobéké is our heritage. It’s rich in biodiversity, with species found nowhere else. We need better roads so more tourists can visit. I would tell President Paul Biya that we need improved infrastructure and better accommodations for visitors.”
