A BANKER is leaving behind the world of finance and putting on her safari gear as she heads out on an adventure to study zebras in the wilds of Africa.

Jean Willis, from Welland, near Malvern, is setting off for two weeks of wildlife conservation work in Kenya today.

The commercial bank contact at HSBC in Malvern's Church Street will be joining a team of scientists studying how the unprotected Grevy's zebra population uses habitat on Sambura community lands and comparing it to habitat use within the Lewa wildlife conservancy.

Her expedition is part of Investing in Nature, an £11m, five-year partnership between HSBC and environmental organisation Earth-watch Institute.

Miss Willis was selected from more than 220,000 HSBC employees worldwide to work on Earthwatch conservation projects in 2005.

The scheme she is involved in aims to help communities and conservation organisations reduce competition between wildlife habitat needs and human land-use practices.

She will be driving over the savannah to map locations, habitat and movements of the Grevy's zebras, plain zebras and other grazers including elephants.

It will also involve her mapping other zebra locations relative to livestock, water sources and manyattas - traditional Sambura settlements.

She said: "I've had a lifelong interest in wildlife and animal welfare so this will be a very special experience for me. I'm very keen to learn more about the human/wildlife conflicts in Kenya and it'll be wonderful to play a hands-on role in a project that is working to mitigate this."

HSBC is offering 2,000 employees the chance to become involved in scientific field research over a period of five years, taking part in vital conservation projects worldwide.