Two American tourists, Liza Gatsby and Peter Jenkins, have explained why they have stayed in Nigeria for over 36 years, despite originally having only 10-day transit visas.

They shared their story in an interview with content creator David Nkwa, which was broadcast on Wednesday.

Gatsby and Jenkins first came to Nigeria in 1988, and they had planned to stay only briefly. However, their plans changed when they became fascinated with Nigeria’s wildlife and opportunities for conservation. They decided to stay and work on saving drill monkeys, a rare species they found in Nigeria.

Gatsby shared, “We arrived with a 10-day transit visa, and we have been here for 36 years. We founded a nonprofit organization called Pandas that works to protect drill monkeys in Bano and Calabar in Cross River State.”

Gatsby added, “I’ll tell you what I like about Nigerians. Okay, that’s what makes Nigeria different from every other country in Africa. They would say ‘hey! Oyinbo, come in na, sit down, make we talk. Make I go buy you the drink.’ That is the difference between Nigeria and the rest of Africa.”

Jenkins explained why they chose Calabar for their work. He said, “We did our research, and aside from Cameroon, Calabar was another place for monkey drills. No scientist or tourist had discovered that those animals were living there until 1987 when we consulted the local people in the community and got funding to make it habitable while conserving the rare species.”

Jenkins added, “I love Nigeria, this is a great place. When we got here, the population of Nigeria in the early ’90s and late ’80s was around 65 million. The amount of natural resources that were still intact was extraordinary, and the density of wildlife generally in the forest was better compared to today.”

Gatsby also noted the changes she has seen over the years. She said, “Nigerians don’t have pride in Nigeria’s natural heritage. I think that’s a big issue because that’s what it takes to try to make a difference. People don’t take pride in their cultural identity, language, traditional herbs, and healing.”

She added, “There was this huge wealth of knowledge when we came here on traditional healing and herbs from the forest. But now, we see herbal teas and cures imported from China. How do we know those things work? What’s wrong with our traditional ones here?”

Despite their love for Nigeria, Gatsby and Jenkins have noticed changes over the years. They are concerned about the loss of traditional knowledge and the decline in natural resources. However, they continue to support and work on conservation efforts, believing in the value of Nigeria’s unique wildlife and cultural heritage.