Wild At Heart

Wildlife photographers Rohit and Kalyan Varma share 12 stunning shots from their repository at Nature inFocus, a collective of like-minded wildlife enthusiasts from across the world.

SP Shahi’s contributions to the protection of wolves, and his role in bringing them back from the brink of extinction, are largely forgotten today. The forest officer was behind India’s only wolf sanctuary, Mahuadanr, in Jharkhand.

Purnima Devi Barman is leading the ‘Hargila Army’ of women in Assam to protect the endangered adjutant stork or hargilas.

Seventy years after the Asiatic Cheetah was declared extinct in India, eight cheetahs were flown in from Namibia to the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Meet former IAS officer Dr M K Ranjitsinh, the brains behind the relocation project.

Looking for an eco-friendly homestay in the Nilgiris? Vikram and Anushri Mathias run the gorgeous Jungle Hut, which runs on solar power and recycled water.

Aaranya Resort in Gir, Gujarat was conceptualised by Dhanji Bhai Patel to be an eco-friendly haven for weary travellers who want to get away from city life and relax amid nature.

Anil Bishnoi, a farmer and activist from Rajasthan, shares how he saved 10,000 blackbucks and chinkaras who are now protected across 60 panchayats while also building them ponds so that they can survive the summer heat.

“But what has undoubtedly weighed with the Nawabs of Junagadh in the past and carries weight also with me is that the forest is the last sanctuary of Indian lions,” said the last Nawab of Junagadh.

One lesson that forest officers today can learn from Fateh Singh Rathore’s life is that their loyalties should only be with the forests – and not politicians or superior officers.

Mithun, the photographer behind the majestic couple, Bagira and Leopard, and Sarosh Lodhi, who created the optical illusion with two Zebras, share what it takes to have a flourishing career in wildlife photography.