Natalie Kyriacou Inspiring curiosity

When Natalie Kyriacou first entered the business world, she was frequently dismissed working in the environmental sector was commonly viewed as "fluff" work. Now a multi-award-winning founder and CEO, she is determined to help educate and empower young people about wildlife conservation.

- SIMONE ZIAZIARIS

For several months, Natalie F Kyriacou woke up in stifling heat and humidity each day. She was living in a small guest house backing onto one of the few remaining tracks of protected rainforest in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.

A journalism student at the time, Kyriacou travelled to the Bornean jungle to work on an orangutan rehabilitation project, hoping to learn more about the challenges facing some of the world's most iconic species and to write about the impact palm oil was having on wildlife in the region.

Each day, she bottle-fed infant orangutans, sourced food and enrichment for local wildlife, taught juvenile orangutans to climb trees, and monitored wild nest populations, all while wrapping up the final semester of her university degree. It was a life-changing experience, but not one Kyriacou necessarily recommends today.

While she feels very fortunate to have had such a unique experience, she believes handling wildlife isn't something anybody should strive towards. "It's an indicator that we, as humanity, have meddled too much," she says. "There is nothing more beautiful than hearing and witnessing truly wild wildlife thriving in their natural habitats, without human interference."

It's a belief that stems from Kyriacou's experience in Borneo. She remembers the bittersweet moment when she was standing on the edge of the jungle talking to a local ranger when something grasped her hand. It was a young orangutan gazing up, gently holding onto her. "While I selfishly cherished the experience, I also knew that this was not the behaviour of a healthy, thriving, and wild orangutan," Kyriacou says. "This orangutan was quite thin and was, uncharacteristically and unnaturally, standing on his two hind legs like a human."