The crane doctor: from 300 birds to 1,293 — and a £100,000 gold award

Olivier Nsengimana used to treat gorillas. Then he met Rwanda's grey crowned cranes — down to just 300 birds, trapped for the exotic-pet trade and losing their wetlands — and changed course. He founded the Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association in 2015, protected the Rugezi swamps, enlisted 75 community rangers, and watched the cranes climb to 1,293. This week he received the £100,000 Whitley Fund for Nature Gold Award — conservation's top honor. He hopes children now "grow up looking at the rangers and saying: 'Oh I want to be like my brother... protecting the marsh.'"