Inspired by Nature: Ben Ajayi-Obe
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Date posted: 27/01/2022
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Time to read: 10 minutes
Ben Ajayi-Obe
By the time he was 27, data scientist and adventurer, Ben Ajayi-Obe, of south London, had already climbed Kilimanjaro and rowed across the Atlantic. His experiences in the natural world inspired him to re-evaluate his entire life plan.
‘My grandparents lived in Buckinghamshire next to an ancient forest called Burnham Beeches,’ he says. ‘It’s a stunning place and has been used as a location for many films, including Harry Potter. I can remember thinking how unusual the trees looked there. They were different from other trees and we used to joke that witches lived inside them. ‘The memory that really sticks is seeing the Druids Oak – it’s an ancient tree with a fence round it. Someone told me it was over 800 years old and when I heard that, something went off in my mind. I realised this tree was so significant; that if it had eyes it would have seen my parents, my grandparents, my great-grandparents, my great-great-grandparents and so on, all growing up. I saw how fleeting our lives are, compared to some of the things in nature.’
Ben went on regular outdoor trips with the Scouts but credits the challenges he undertook at university with helping him to fully understand the role he wanted nature and wild spaces to play in his life. ‘I ran the Loch Ness Marathon, where they drive you in coaches into the Highlands and you have to run back to Inverness,’ he says. He was also offered the opportunity to climb Kilimanjaro. ‘I started to understand that being in nature gives you perspective, so when the chance came to row the Atlantic with a team, to raise money for the Berkshire Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre, I jumped at it, it was so outlandish it caught my attention,’ he says.
The four man team took to the ocean from the Canary Isles in December 2018, completing their 3,000-mile row 40 days later. ‘The experiences I had on that boat were transformative,’ he says. ‘A huge part of it was about the wildlife – around 100 miles out, a large pod of dolphins came to play and some jumped out of the water. They were so energetic, like dogs; it was something I just wasn’t used to seeing.’
Soon after came an even greater spectacle. ‘We’d been going for about a week when this huge fin popped out of the water and we realised it was a pod of Minke whales,’ he says. ‘We just stopped, awestruck, and one of the team who was quite brave put on a snorkel, dived in, and captured some incredible footage.’ The Minkes swam under the boat and accompanied it as it moved off. ‘It was an incredible sight to see these animals gracefully gliding by,’ he says. He credits the whales with prompting a ‘perspective shift’. ‘Before then I think I’d always had this “us and them” perspective on nature as in; “I’m human and my role is to tame or bend or control nature”. From this experience I realised there was no us and them, we are all in the same realm.’
In the face of the mighty ocean he found himself beginning to discard ‘superficial concerns’, realising that: ‘More than ever it’s very important we understand that our actions can’t be taming nature, we need to understand how we can work with it, how it functions, so we aren’t disruptive to it. At the end of the day people don’t realise how reliant we are on nature.’
He resolved to switch the trajectory of his career in data science. ‘I’d been focussed on getting a good role in a high-profile company that would pay well but decided I would only work with companies that were actively considerate of the environment, who really valued it and were not just making token efforts to be ethical and sustainable,’ he says. ‘Right now I’m working with a sustainable fashion company that prioritises re-selling clothes, to try and disrupt the throwaway fashion industry.’
💚 Our National Parks are intertwined in many of our lives, whether it`s on a daily basis or less often. But they don`t just happen by themselves.
They rely on people and communities every single day. From the friendly faces in a visitors centre to the farmer right out in the wilderness, our parks are what they are thanks to the people who give their time to them.
#NationalParksUK #PeopleinAction
🏴We all know Eryri National Park (Snowdonia) for being home to impressive peaks - but this landscape also holds some of the most dramatic scenery in the UK in the form of castles. 🏰
Hidden in the valleys are rugged, secret strongholds. Castle Harlech here, nestled onto a rocky knoll close to the Irish Sea, hosted the longest siege in British history which lasted for seven years.
Our National Parks are known for beautiful views, but they also protect some incredible homes and stories that span across our history. Together we can preserve history.
#HarlechCastle #EryriNationalPark #WelshCastles
Good news for nature August roundup 🌿
This time there’s cats, bugs and birds. There’s so many spectacular sightings, breakthroughs and results for wildlife every single day in our National Parks.
Here are just four pieces of recent good news to make you smile this weekend. Share with someone who loves nature to spread the positivity 💚
#GoodNews #NationalParks #Wildlife
Three years ago, beavers returned to the Cairngorms. 🦫
After more than 400 years away, the first beaver family was released into the National Park in December 2023.
Since then, something special has happened: they’ve settled, spread and started breeding. There are now around 72 beavers in the Cairngorms, including kits born in the wild.
And they’re not just living in the landscape, they’re helping to shape it. By creating wetlands and changing waterways, beavers can help hold and slow water, and create habitats that benefit a whole host of other species. 🌿
It’s a brilliant example of how our National Parks can play a vital role in nature recovery - and what’s possible when people work together to bring species back and create healthier, more resilient landscapes for people and nature.
#NationalParks #Cairngorms #Beavers #NatureRecovery
September is a great time to try nature journaling 📝🍂
A simple form of mindfulness, nature journaling encourages us to slow down and notice what’s happening in the world around us - from the first changing leaves and fungi appearing to the birds we hear and the changing light.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s simply about taking a moment to be present, pay attention and connect with nature.
All you need is a notebook, a pen and somewhere outdoors. Our National Parks are pretty good spots for it, too. 👀
Have you ever tried nature journaling? It’s another way our National Parks are helping people to unwind, everyday.
#NatureJournaling #NationalParks #Mindfulness
🦇When the sun goes down, a whole new world comes to life.
Our National Parks are home to many rare species, including wildlife that can be much harder to spot. The New Forest is home to 14 of the UK’s 18 species of bat, from tiny pipistrelles to some of our rarer woodland species.
Bats depend on a mosaic of habitats to survive, and across the UK’s 15 National Parks, work is happening to protect the places wildlife depends on – even when we don’t always see it.
This International Bat Night, meet just some of the bats our Parks are home to.
📸
1. Soprano Pipistrelle – Russell Wynn / Wild New Forest
2. Soprano Pipistrelle – New Forest National Park
3. Barbastelle – Hugh Clark/Bat Conservation Trust
#BatsOfInstagram #NewForest #InternationalBatNight
15 National Parks. Countless landscapes and communities.💚
Working farmland. Wild coastlines. Woodland paths. Places shaped by generations of people.
Our National Parks are incredibly diverse and not just in the landscapes they protect, but in the people, nature, heritage and stories that make each one unique.
#NationalParksUK #UKNature
Look a little closer and you’ll find a landscape full of life at the Peak District National Park. 🌿
From dippers, ring ouzels and mountain hares in the uplands, to curlews calling across the moorlands and meadow brown butterflies in grasslands, these are just five of the many species you can see in the Peak District this season.
Protecting the special landscapes across our 15 National Padks means protecting the variety of wildlife relying on these habitats as their homes.
Which would you most like to spot? 👀
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1. Mountain Hare
2. Curlew
3. Ring Ouzel
4. Meadow Brown Butterfly - Alex Hyde
5. Dipper - Tom Marshall
#PeakDistrict #Wildlife #NationalParksUK
