Dr. Steve Boyes has dedicated his life to conserving Africa’s wilderness areas and the species that depend upon them through innovative and integrative methods.
After working as a camp manager and wilderness guide in the Okavango Delta, Steve went on to complete his Ph.D. field work on the little-known Meyer's parrot. This work led to his position as a Centre of Excellence Postdoctoral Fellow at the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology as well as the founding of the Wild Bird Trust, where Steve continues to serve as the scientific director. In this capacity, Steve initiated the Cape Parrot Project, which aims to stimulate positive change for the species through high-quality research and community-based conservation action. His work also contributed to the selection of the Okavango Delta as a World Heritage site in 2014 and has attracted international attention to the illegal pet trade of African grey parrot.
In 2013, Steve was selected as a National Geographic Emerging Explorer and as a TED Fellow in 2014. In 2015, as a National Geographic Fellow and TED Senior Fellow, he launched the Okavango Wilderness Project, a multi-year effort aimed at exploring and protecting the little known wilderness of the Angolan highlands that provides over 95 percent of the water that sustains the Okavango Delta and the biodiversity of the greater Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area. In 2016, the National Geographic Society signed a $10 million commitment to fund what is now called the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project.
