Colleen Begg receives Prince William award in Mozambique
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Club of Mozambique
Conservationist Colleen Begg, co-founder of the Niassa Carnivore Project in Mozambique, received the 2026 Prince William Award for Conservation in Africa. The award recognises more than 30 years of commitment to protecting nature, including more than 20 years in Niassa province, according to Tusk Trust.
Conservationist Colleen Begg, co-founder and managing director of the Niassa Carnivore Project in Mozambique, received the 2026 Prince William Award for Conservation in Africa in London on Wednesday. Prince William presented the award to her during the annual Tusk Conservation Awards ceremony, organised by the British organisation Tusk Trust, Club of Mozambique reports.
Tusk Trust highlights Colleen Begg’s more than 30-year career in nature conservation, including more than two decades devoted to Niassa province, in northern Mozambique. She arrived in the region in 2002 to study, among other things, honey badgers and traditional honey-harvesting practices, and later conducted a scientific study of large carnivores with her husband Keith Begg, which led to the creation of the Niassa Carnivore Project in 2003.
The project works with local communities, Mozambican authorities and tourism operators to protect lions, leopards, spotted hyenas and African wild dogs in the Niassa Special Reserve. The protected area covers about 42,000 km² and the project carries out actions against poaching, illegal traps and the poisoning of animals.
The award comes after several recent distinctions involving African figures. On 11 November, Dorsaf Sebai received a Springer Nature Editor Award 2026, a separate award in scientific publishing.
