Man's Best Friend

Rolex Awards for Enterprise Laureate Inza Koné has dedicated his life to protecting those that cannot protect themselves: wildlife and rainforests. With the help of Rolex, the primatologist will be able to increase and improve his important efforts

- Annabel Tan

The human affection for animals is a strong, sometimes unexplainable one. It is the reason why many of us keep pets like dogs or cats; we enjoy caring for these animals and foster an inimitable bond with them. When it comes to wild animals, however, it has been proven time and again that they are better off in their natural habitats. Primatologist Inza Koné has had to learn this the hard way.

When he was just eight years old, his father gave him a young baboon as a pet. They became inseparable, but as the baboon grew, it became difficult to handle and the deep integration with human life made it impossible to release the primate back into the wild. There was no other choice but to make the painful decision of euthanising his beloved companion, which heavily impacted Koné. “Imagine how sad I was. Since then, I think about wild animals differently. Especially primates,” he reflects.

While unfortunate, this formative experience also resulted in an incredibly positive effect; it sowed the seeds for Koné’s lifelong dedication to primate conservation.

He is the first primatologist from Côte d’Ivoire, and has been devoting the last two decades to studying and protecting its wildlife.