A Conservationist in Spain
Join me, Dr Will Travers, as I move from Bossou in Guinea to a new life in Spain.
ABOUT MEWelcome to Green Passage, my journey through the landscapes, ecosystems, and histories that shape Spain. My name is Dr. Will Travers, and for over fifteen years, my world was the dense, humid rainforests of Bossou, Guinea, where I studied wild chimpanzees and their relationship with the changing environment.
I spent my days tracking family groups, watching them crack nuts with ancient techniques passed down through generations, and trying to understand how human encroachment was altering their world. I thought I’d be there forever.
But forever is a funny thing. Fieldwork wears you down—physically, mentally, sometimes philosophically. The funding dries up, the politics get worse, and one day, you wake up realizing you’ve spent half your life fighting for something that’s slipping through your fingers.
So I left the rainforest behind and landed in Madrid, a place I once thought was the opposite of everything I knew.
Turns out, it has its own wildness—just a different kind.
See inside Spain’s most remarkable conservation success story:
My latest blog entries:
The Vulture People: Spain’s Strangest Conservationists
The Forgotten Bison: Spain’s Unexpected Rewilding Project
The Iberian Lynx Conservation. A Success Story to be Proud Of
Spain’s Forgotten Landscapes: A Biologist’s First Impressions
What Chimpanzees Taught Me About Human Behaviour
Madrid’s Urban Wildlife , More Than Just Pigeons and Stray Cats
