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…This article was originally published on Mongabay