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For the forward-thinking traveller, a getaway goes deeper than ticking off blockbuster sites on a standard itinerary. The emphasis has shifted towards meaningful interactions and unique experiences, while simultaneously considering the earth and all those who inhabit it. Increasingly, thoughtful jetsetters are considering the wider impact of their trip. Do our leisure pursuits support regional wildlife and ecosystems? Do local communities prosper? What can we do to give back? These are all questions posed by the ethical world-wanderer. Speakers include Amit Sankhala, Dr. Raghu Chundawat, Aly Rashid and Shoba Mohan.
Amit Sankhala has continued the legacy of his family [well known for their wildlife conservation work] by carrying forward the mission of nature conservation and wildlife tourism. As the Managing Director of Encounters Asia, Tiger Resorts Pvt. Ltd and Jamtara Wilderness Camp, Amit has deep knowledge about tigers and boundless enthusiasm in the field of tourism, which enables him to succeed in his profession!
Wildlife has been a passion for Aly Rashid ever since his childhood. This passion inspired him to work with his family to set up and run Reni Pani Jungle Lodge, one of the finest wilderness lodges in India. At Reni Pani, Aly has curated and built on the wildlife and guiding experience since its inception and in this time his passion for wildlife has been instilled in the ethos of the lodge and its people. A trained naturalist and ornithologist, he has travelled across the country and has been involved with wildlife in various localities. His deep involvement with Satpura since his childhood has been a motivation to protect and conserve wildlife in this landscape.
Dr. Raghu Chundawat started his career as a conservation biologist more than thirty years ago with research on snow leopards and their prey in Ladakh. He worked as Regional Science and Conservation Director for the International Snow Leopard Trust and has supervised conservation programmes in Mongolia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India (2005-09). He is very closely involved with tiger conservation and conducted a ten-year, highly acclaimed and unique tiger study in Panna National Park, a dry tropical forest of central India.
For the last eight years, he has been actively involved with eco-tourism, assessing the value of wildlife tourism for the purpose of wildlife conservation and for the benefit of local communities.
He is the recipient of several conservation awards including Esso’s ‘Honour for Tiger Conservation’ in 2001; the ‘Carl Zeiss Wildlife Conservation Award’ in 2002 and the ‘Tiger Gold’ award in 2003 for outstanding scientific work with wild tigers. In 2003, BBC Animal Planet produced an award-winning wildlife documentary film on his work with the tigers in Panna − “Tigers of the Emerald Forest”.
Ratika Sinha Ramchandran is a graduate of École hôtelière de Lausanne, and a certified eco-tourism practitioner, Ratika was the natural choice to take up the responsibility for the family-owned jungle lodge Svasara. She however, considers herself lucky to be able to pursue her passion for sustainability through her “work”! Her husband, (who she first met at Tadoba…) Sanjay Ramchandran, is India’s ace food photographer & researcher. Him along with the other culinary enthusiasts in the family, ensure that Svasara’s signature cuisine also plays an integral role in creating a memorable nature holiday for their guests.
Shobha Mohan graduated in Zoology and pursued a postgraduate degree in Journalism and Mass Communication with the intention of concentrating on Science Journalism. School and college
life on the eastern coast of India was spent amidst a kaleidoscope of interests ranging from poetry and reading groups, crossover cinema, dance-drama, music and mythology, story-telling, floor-art and volunteering for nature conservation and marine research.
A chance foray into travel and circumstances led to enterprise and entrepreneurship, the result was RARE India in 2004 – a representation, communication, sales and marketing company that promoted experiential travel that included a range of hospitality and tourism products – boutique palace hotels, experiential walks, riding programs, off-roading destinations, art for tourism, etc. The products encompassed a variety of interests viz. nature, health and wellness, wildlife, adventure, cuisine, art and history, culture and conservation and above all it involved people – passionate, lateral thinkers and doers from various walks of life promoting an ideology and fostering immense learning. Shoba Mohan’s myriad interests and evolution in travel run parallel to that of RARE, yet writing about issues, nature and conservation continue to be areas of personal interest.
For the forward-thinking traveller, a getaway goes deeper than ticking off blockbuster sites on a standard itinerary. The emphasis has shifted towards meaningful interactions and unique experiences, while simultaneously considering the earth and all those who inhabit it. Increasingly, thoughtful jetsetters are considering the wider impact of their trip. Do our leisure pursuits support regional wildlife and ecosystems? Do local communities prosper? What can we do to give back? These are all questions posed by the ethical world-wanderer. Speakers include Amit Sankhala, Dr. Raghu Chundawat, Aly Rashid and Shoba Mohan.
Amit Sankhala has continued the legacy of his family [well known for their wildlife conservation work] by carrying forward the mission of nature conservation and wildlife tourism. As the Managing Director of Encounters Asia, Tiger Resorts Pvt. Ltd and Jamtara Wilderness Camp, Amit has deep knowledge about tigers and boundless enthusiasm in the field of tourism, which enables him to succeed in his profession!
Wildlife has been a passion for Aly Rashid ever since his childhood. This passion inspired him to work with his family to set up and run Reni Pani Jungle Lodge, one of the finest wilderness lodges in India. At Reni Pani, Aly has curated and built on the wildlife and guiding experience since its inception and in this time his passion for wildlife has been instilled in the ethos of the lodge and its people. A trained naturalist and ornithologist, he has travelled across the country and has been involved with wildlife in various localities. His deep involvement with Satpura since his childhood has been a motivation to protect and conserve wildlife in this landscape.
Dr. Raghu Chundawat started his career as a conservation biologist more than thirty years ago with research on snow leopards and their prey in Ladakh. He worked as Regional Science and Conservation Director for the International Snow Leopard Trust and has supervised conservation programmes in Mongolia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India (2005-09). He is very closely involved with tiger conservation and conducted a ten-year, highly acclaimed and unique tiger study in Panna National Park, a dry tropical forest of central India.
For the last eight years, he has been actively involved with eco-tourism, assessing the value of wildlife tourism for the purpose of wildlife conservation and for the benefit of local communities.
He is the recipient of several conservation awards including Esso’s ‘Honour for Tiger Conservation’ in 2001; the ‘Carl Zeiss Wildlife Conservation Award’ in 2002 and the ‘Tiger Gold’ award in 2003 for outstanding scientific work with wild tigers. In 2003, BBC Animal Planet produced an award-winning wildlife documentary film on his work with the tigers in Panna − “Tigers of the Emerald Forest”.
Ratika Sinha Ramchandran is a graduate of École hôtelière de Lausanne, and a certified eco-tourism practitioner, Ratika was the natural choice to take up the responsibility for the family-owned jungle lodge Svasara. She however, considers herself lucky to be able to pursue her passion for sustainability through her “work”! Her husband, (who she first met at Tadoba…) Sanjay Ramchandran, is India’s ace food photographer & researcher. Him along with the other culinary enthusiasts in the family, ensure that Svasara’s signature cuisine also plays an integral role in creating a memorable nature holiday for their guests.
Shobha Mohan graduated in Zoology and pursued a postgraduate degree in Journalism and Mass Communication with the intention of concentrating on Science Journalism. School and college
life on the eastern coast of India was spent amidst a kaleidoscope of interests ranging from poetry and reading groups, crossover cinema, dance-drama, music and mythology, story-telling, floor-art and volunteering for nature conservation and marine research.
A chance foray into travel and circumstances led to enterprise and entrepreneurship, the result was RARE India in 2004 – a representation, communication, sales and marketing company that promoted experiential travel that included a range of hospitality and tourism products – boutique palace hotels, experiential walks, riding programs, off-roading destinations, art for tourism, etc. The products encompassed a variety of interests viz. nature, health and wellness, wildlife, adventure, cuisine, art and history, culture and conservation and above all it involved people – passionate, lateral thinkers and doers from various walks of life promoting an ideology and fostering immense learning. Shoba Mohan’s myriad interests and evolution in travel run parallel to that of RARE, yet writing about issues, nature and conservation continue to be areas of personal interest.
