Xenopus longipes lives in exactly one place on Earth: a 243 hectare crater lake on Mount Oku, Cameroon. No backup population. No second site. If Lake Oku fails, so does the species — and right now, the lake is under real pressure.

Agricultural encroachment, shoreline grazing, and declining soil fertility are degrading the habitat. We're seeing rising turbidity, vegetation loss, and unexplained frog deaths — but almost no consistent data existed to track any of it. Until now.

With support from the Rufford Foundation, we launched a 12-month, community-led project built on four pillars:

🔬 Monitor —  water quality checks (temp, pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen) at  fixed lake points
🗺️ Map — shoreline and habitat assessments to flag priority breeding zones
🧑🤝🧑 Train — 20–30 local residents as conservation monitors, equipped with GPS, water-testing kits, and field notebooks — so monitoring outlasts the grant
📣 Engage — 5+ community events reaching 200+ people, with materials in local languages

Findings feed a baseline threat report for MINFOF, the Oku Traditional Council, and local NGOs — plus an open-access paper on the monitoring model, so other single-site endemics can benefit too.

One grant got us started. It won't finish the job.

We're looking for:
🐸 Researchers in amphibian disease, freshwater ecology, or community monitoring
💰 Funders to extend this work past year one
🏛️ Zoos, universities, and NGOs already invested in Xenopus longipes or similar endemics

If a frog with twelve sets of chromosomes and one square mile of water to its name has your attention — let's talk.

📩 seangansey18@gmail.com
🔗 https://www.rufford.org/projects/sean-penyit-gansey/community-led-conservation-of-the-critically-endangered-lake-oku-clawed-frog-xenopus-longipes-through-habitat-protection/