In September 2003 he signed an agreement with Cameroon's Minister of Environment and Forestry Chief Tanyi-Mbianyor Clarkson for a transboundary protected area combining the Takamanda and Okwangwo reserves to protect the Cross River gorilla, the world's rarest subspecies of gorilla with only 280 individuals throughout its entire range.
The Sankwala Mountains lie southeast of the town of Obudu, north of the Okwangwo section of Cross River National Park.