CERCOPAN Now
Founded in 1995 by Canadian Zena Tooze, CERCOPAN is now one of the leading environmental non-profit, non-government organizations working for conservation in Cross River State, Nigeria, with excellent relationships with government at both state and federal levels, and with a support organisation in the UK (registered charity 1116955). Our primary areas of work are primate rehabilitation, environmental education, community rainforest conservation, and research.  CERCOPAN has two sites, our administrative and primate rehabilitation headquarters in Calabar, and our international research and education centre at Rhoko, Iko Esai (our community partners).  Partners include the Cross River State Forestry Commission, the Cross River National Park and the University of Calabar.

CERCOPAN's History
Zena came to Nigeria in 1991 to work as a CUSO volunteer for the newly formed Cross River National Park - this is when she became passionate about the plight of primates in West Africa. Out of this passion, and her combined background in veterinary nursing and zoology, CERCOPAN was born, which always had education and primate conservation as its primary purpose. Zena's vision was always to form a international centre where young people of Nigeria could learn from each other, in partnership with the international community, and appreciate different way of thinking about their environment. In Nigeria, there wasn't a lot of time left - but there was a love of life and welcome from the Nigerian people which made it all seem possible...
 

CERCOPAN Calabar
Our Administrative headquarters is in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, Nigeria. A bustling and busy Nigerian city, Calabar is steeped in history, and a clean and friendly place to live. Here we also have an extensive education outreach and visitor programme, along with our quarantine and major initial rehabilitation programme for orphan primates. Visitors are welcome to the centre 7 days per week, 9am to 5pm. Over 130 primates have been rescued over the past 12 years, primarily through donations and often as a direct result of our education programme. These primates are in varying stages of rehabilitation at CERCOPAN, and serve as ambassadors for the conservation of their species.

Rhoko Research and Education Centre
At Rhoko, we have established an international research and education centre to help us work towards our overall goal of working for primate conservation and the preservation of biodiversity. Of primary concern in our programming is primate conservation, biodiversity research, forest management and conservation of tropical rainforest. Located approximately 90 km north of Calabar,  Rhoko is the base for CERCOPAN's forest conservation and research programmes. It was established as a result of a long term agreement with Iko Esai community, in their community forest close to Rhoko River, from where it gets its name.