Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, 28, travels the world visiting preservation sites, safaris, and national parks in an effort to better understand how she can implement modern wildlife conservation in her own country.

Trang, the founder and executive director of WildAct Vietnam, an NGO dedicated to the welfare of wildlife in Vietnam, has devoted her life to protecting animals. 

In recognition of her selfless contributions to Vietnam’s wildlife, Trang was honored with the “Future for Nature Award 2018”, an accolade bestowed upon the country’s young, talented, and ambitious conservationists.

The award came hot on the heels of her recently published book “Back to Wildlife” – another feather in her cap.

Trang is seen at a preservation site in Kenya in this supplied photo.

Twenty years of iron will

At a TEDx event in Hanoi, Trang shared her personal journey to becoming a professional conservationist, a journey that started when she was just eight years old.

At the time, the practice of harvesting bear bile for its alleged medical properties was spreading across Vietnam.

“Every time I got home late from school, I couldn’t help hearing the desperate howling  of the bear our neighbor kept for economic purposes,” Trang shared.

“It was that first-hand witnessing of the pain that bear had to endure which led me to aspire towards wildlife preservation”.

Trang is seen at a preservation site in Kenya in this supplied photo.

Trang spent the next decade ignoring ridicule and contempt from those around her. 

She refused to let the notion that her country wasn’t rich enough to worry about conservation get in the way of pursuing her dream.

Instead, she spent high school petitioning local NGOs to let her volunteer on their initiatives.

Her request was eventually accepted by TRAFFIC – an NGO which promotes sustainable wildlife trade while combating wildlife trafficking, where she worked as a volunteer for a year and a half.

After high school, she enrolled to the University of Liverpool where she majored in wildlife conservation.

Her hard work at school in Liverpool led to a scholarship which enabled her to continue her studies at the University of Kent.

Since then, she’s continued to actively partake in wildlife preservation activities around the world, including three months spent living alongside native guides in the jungles of Madagascar tracking its lemur population.

She’s currently enrolled in a doctoral program focused on tracking elephants and rhinos in South Africa’s national parks and helping local rangers fight off traffickers.

Trang talks to local teachers in Kenya in this supplied photo.

The promise of passion

Trang’s journeys through the jungle aren’t exactly a walk a in the park.  Her trips often span months in far flung locales, battling the elements and fighting off poachers.

 “I may get sunburn, my appearance maybe degraded, but it is worth the effort”, Trang said.

“I consider those my battle scars of honor that help signify my passion for the profession”.

“That mindset helps me do my job”, she exclaimed.

Trang poses with rangers at the Kruger National Park in South Africa in this supplied photo.

Kruger National Park has been dubbed the wildlife capital of Africa due the large numbers of elephants and rhinos who call it home.

As such, the local park rangers are the real deal.

“To ward off poachers, the rangers in Kruger National Park are rigorously trained 24/7 much like a soldier. They are always ready to mobilize”, Trang shared.

 “But in truth, they never want to fire at anyone. Like me, they simply seek to safeguard wildlife as best they can”.

For conservationists, “pure, genuine happiness derives from the fact that wildlife can behavior naturally in their habitat without fear of poaching”, Trang admits.

Now that her work has brought her back to Vietnam, she plans to spend her time spreading the conservationist spirit to local youth through a series of collaborative environmental projects.  

“Witnessing students of the next generation wanting to become conservationists, environmentalists, and promising not to abuse wildlife resources, fuels my heart with the desire to keep striving for the better”, Trang said.

Trang is seen at a safari in this supplied photo.