Vikram Singh | Eco-tourism & Wildlife Promoter
Vikram started Wild World India with a vision to bring together a network of nature specialists to help promote Indian wildlife through sustainable eco-tourism practices. He has trekked extensively in the Himalayas, biked through Rajasthan & Madhya Pradesh, undertaken wildlife explorations in Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve & Western Ghats, conducted bird surveys in North-East (Assam & Arunachal) to help develop locally-assisted birding programs and continues to develop potential wildlife tour destinations across India. He facilitated the Mahseer Conservation Society to help develop Uttaranchal as a premium sportfishing destination in Asia through an integrated approach involving the local community. Vikram was invited by the Forest Dept. Uttaranchal and Himachal Tourism to eco-tourism workshops to share his learnings from the Vanghat Sportfishing project - a Public Private Partnership model - to help develop sustainable community-based tourism programs. He also attended the workshop conducted by Richard Brock (Director, Living Planet UK) on 'Wildlife Films as a Conservation Tool' at Sunderbans in Nov 2004. Vikram has been a part of Kids for Tigers, the country's biggest school awareness program on Tiger Conservation. His media background and rich field experience help him coordinate many wildlife photography and filming projects. He has also contributed several articles for Outlook Traveler's Trekking Guide to India. Apart from leading tours, Vikram spearheads Business Development and Strategic Planning at Wild World India.
Anurag Mallick | Travel Writer
From copywriting to travel writing and a rock band to a radio station, Anurag is a nomad at heart and a writer by choice. He dropped out of business school and moved from advertising to a youth portal where he developed a site dedicated to offbeat travel in India. Anurag has trekked in the Himalayas, taken a holy dip at the Maha-Kumbh, meditated with monks in a Buddhist monastery and documented the Ranthambhore Tiger Census, Bird Surveys in Mudumalai, Bharatpur, Wayanad & Coorg. He contributes regularly to Outlook Traveler, Deccan Herald & other travel magazines and has been published in Outlook Traveler's Trekking Guide to India, 100 Holidays in the Hills, 52 Weekend Breaks from Bangalore and the Kerala Guide. He has also written for books like Stark World Kerala and 2nd Edition of Bangalore & Karnataka Guide. Anurag has undertaken several natural history tours to Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve & Western Ghats and helped develop blueprints for state governments to promote lesser-known destinations in Karnataka, Kerala, Jharkhand, Goa and Uttaranchal. As part of the Mahseer Conservation Society, Anurag is involved with the development and promotion of Vanghat River Lodge in co-ordination with the local community. Currently based in Delhi, he plays a key role in the development strategy of Wild World India, has conceptualized the architecture and content for the WWI website and leads tours. If there's anything you want to know on Indian mythology or offbeat destinations in India, Anurag is your man.
Sanjay Khurana | Overseas Promoter
Sanjay Khurana is a globetrotter who has traveled extensively through wildlife parks of North America, Canada, South America and India. Sanjay travels each year to India and has been to Kaziranga, Namdapha, Ranthambhore, Bandhavgarh, Kanha, Pench, Nagarahole, Bandipur, Hemis and virtually all of India's far-flung wildlife preserves. A telecommunications expert by profession, he's also a keen naturalist, amateur photographer and an adventure sports enthusiast. Sanjay is closely involved with Wild World India's conservation projects lending his inputs on sustainable eco-tourism practices. Based in Washington DC, he is WWI's overseas promoter and a strong advocate of Indian Wildlife adventure travel.
Gaurav Jain | Tour Operations and Planning
The youngest member of the WWI team, Gaurav has spent considerable time in Ranthambhore, Corbett and Bharatpur. Though he regularly undertakes journeys to various wildlife parks in India, he has a deep understanding of India's diverse cultural heritage. An amateur birder, angler and photographer, he charts out detailed itineraries to Rajasthan, Kerala and other sectors with absolute ease. Gaurav also coordinates a number of field and educational trips for schools and colleges to wildlife reserves each year. Based in New Delhi, Gaurav looks after Wild World India's operations and markets eco lodges, bookings and other operational details. Chances are he will be the first person you meet when you arrive in Delhi.
Dipendra Gurung | North East Representative
Dipen has extensively covered most wildlife parks of north India and Kaziranga, Jaldapara, Gorumara, Buxa, Neora Valley National Park and Sandakphu in the North East. Apart from an Adventure Course at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling, Dipen has also done an MBA in Marketing. He runs his own tea estate lodge at Tinchuley, which is surrounded by broad-leaf temperate forest that supports rich avian fauna. An amateur birder, a great cook and an excellent guitarist, Dipen is currently based in Darjeeling and handles Wild World India's tours in the North East.
Lakshmi Mudgal | Naturalist, Bharatpur
Perhaps no one knows Bharatpur better than Lakshmi or Panditji, who was born in Bharatpur's Jatoli village, now inside the national park. As a youngster, he was fortunate to spend time with India's legendary birdman Dr. Salim Ali at Bharatpur. He started voluntary work with the Forest Department in 1976, officially joined in 1982 and has been involved in several Bharatpur Bird Census projects. In 1984, Lakshmi did a study on Lesser Florican and Indian Bustard for Tourism & Wildlife Society of India and later received a citation from the Rajasthan Govt. In 1987-88, he assisted a Smithsonian funded research project for Iowa & Hawaii State Universities on Wetland Ecology. He served as a senior naturalist in Ranthambhore for 3 years, was Research Assistant for Royal Society for Protection of Birds and International Waterfowl Research Bureau. He delivered a lecture at University of Kent on Tourism & Conservation: 'Changing character of Keoladeo Ghana' and wrote on 'Geese of Keoladeo' for Sanctuary Magazine.
Kunwar Singh Rawat | Naturalist, Corbett
A veteran of Corbett, Kunwar or KD is a modest mountain man from Kumaon currently a resident of Ramnagar town next to Corbett National Park. After an MA in Economics, KD did his guide course in Corbett in 1993 and has since been a part of innumerable birdwatching camps as well as the Annual Animal Census at Corbett. He has also attended the birdwatching camps in Dudhwa National Park and Chambal Wildlife Sanctuary. KD has led several game viewing expeditions and elephant safaris and has a vast knowledge of Indian flora and fauna. As the Assistant Coordinator of the Uttaranchal Eco-Tourism Project, in association with Mountain Institute of Australia, he promotes villages around wildlife preserves in Uttaranchal as home-stays. Through local participation, he helps create sustainable economic alternatives to natural resource exploitation.
Ashlesh Sharma | Naturalist, Ranthambhore
Ashlesh was born in jail. That's because his father was the in-charge of the Nimbahera prison in Kota, Rajasthan. Ash completed his education in Jaipur and moved to Bharatpur, where he got a guiding license for the Keoladeo Ghana National Park. He worked there as a naturalist for three years before moving to Ranthambhore in 1989. He was the only licensed Nature Guide in Ranthambhore, a full four years before other guides got their license. Over the years, he has shared his immense knowledge with locals and helped them become successful guides. Ash is by far the best birder in Ranthambhore and being an excellent naturalist and tracker, has helped the Forest Dept. in numerous Census and conservation projects. As an expert in arid ecology, he has worked as a field assistant for many renowned photographers in Ranthambhore, Sariska, Bandhavgarh, Bharatpur and Desert National Park.
Jijo Mathews | Naturalist, Kerala
A native of Kerala, Jijo has extensively covered the wildlife parks of South India. He has the distinction of being the first to photograph the Nilgiri Thrush (published in the OBC Bulletin) and also the first to record the breeding of Slaty-legged Crake from Kerala. He has been leading birding trips for over 8 years now, covering major birding sites including Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary, Koal, Kumarakom, Eravikulam National Park, Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Ooty and Koonthankulam, a collective area home to over 450 bird species with a high count of endemics. An active member of Oriental Bird Club and Bombay Natural History Society, Jijo was involved in bio-diversity assessment projects carried out by Centre for Ecological Sciences and Indian Institute of Science and is presently working as a Nature Education Officer at Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary.
Aditya Singh | Tiger Specialist & Photographer
To say that Aditya knows all the tigers of Ranthambhore on a first name basis would be no exaggeration, as no one knows individual specimens as well as he does. His immense field knowledge makes him the most sought after consultant for wildlife filming assignments. After Engineering and the Civil Services, Aditya discovered his true calling in the field of environment and wildlife protection. He moved to Ranthambhore, set up a wildlife lodge and has now become an integral part of the park activities. He has helped monitor the Tiger census program since 1984, compiled the official checklist of birds in and around Ranthambhore and conducted bio-diversity studies in the region under Tiger Watch. At the request of the Chief Wildlife Warden of Rajasthan, he joined a Tiger Watch team to search and capture man-eating leopards in Chittor district, a project successfully completed in Jan 2005. As Coordinator of the nation-wide school program Kids for Tigers, Aditya is also responsible for conducting annual camps. A keen lensman, Aditya has held several exhibitions of his work, lending his inputs to travel magazines like Outlook Traveler & Sanctuary. He has worked with National Geographic on 'The Hunter and the Hunted', a 1-hour film on man-eating tigers in Sunderbans and with BBC on 'Danger in Tigers Paradise', a 1-hour TV documentary on the life of a tigress and her male litter. Known as Dicky to friends, Aditya is based in Ranthambhore and is Wild World India's Tiger-Man.
Rinchen Wanchuk | Consultant, Ladakh area
Based in Leh, Rinchen Wanchuk serves as Director of Snow Leopard Conservancy (India Field Program) and has also assisted the Earth Watch program 'Land of the Snow Leopard.' After receiving special training in community-based tourism from the Mountain Institute (Nepal) and RECROFT Thailand, he oversees the projects in local livestock herding communities and provides necessary inputs for developing the ongoing program. His commitment towards the region's wildlife and the rural people of Ladakh has grown out of his own Ladakhi upbringing and from his experiences as a skilled mountaineer. Armed with a course from Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, he has scaled the 24,660 feet high peak Saser Kangri II in Ladakh's Nubra region. He has also served as a naturalist and field assistant on several documentaries filmed in Hemis National Park. For Wild World India, Rinchen lends his inputs on our home-stay programs and offers advise on high altitude treks and wildlife of Ladakh.
Nanak Dhingra | Nature Photographer
An engineer by profession with a passion for nature photography, Nanak Dhingra has been involved in documenting India's wildlife for over a decade now. His work showcases the diverse flora and fauna present in the subcontinent including some rare animal behavior, never recorded before. Project Tiger and 'Vatavaran' - India's Environment & Wildlife festival, have showcased his work and his photo-features have appeared in BBC Wildlife, Travel Plus, Sanctuary Asia and many other journals, books and newspapers. An exclusive Canon user, Nanakji has generously contributed images and continues to share his wisdom on nature photography with Wild World India.
Dr. Anurag & Dr. Sujata Goel | Botanists
Sujata has a PhD in Botany from Delhi University and Anurag grew up in Canada, where he did his doctorate in Molecular Biology from Toronto University. Combining their research experience in botany, plant biochemistry, genetics, ecology and molecular biology, they set up an organic rainforest retreat in Coorg, along the Western Ghats. Proceeds from their eco-tourism venture funds WAPRED Research Foundation (Worldwide Association for Preservation and Restoration of Ecological Diversity), an NGO that helps preserve the fragile rainforest eco-system of Coorg, promotes ecological awareness and develops sustainable methods of agriculture. Their major research project is the development and field-testing of ecologically friendly botanical pesticides for local crops grown under the shade of rainforest trees. During the heavy monsoons, they migrate to explore other natural areas of the world.
Gauri Pandey | Adventure Specialist
Gauri is a thoroughbred mountain man from Kumaon. Having initially trained at the Nainital Mountaineering Club, he went on to complete both the basic and advanced mountaineering course from Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi. As part of the course he scaled a 5,900 m peak - Draupadi ka Danda 1 in the Garhwal region. Gauri has trekked extensively through the Himalayas in Garhwal and Himachal. Some of the treks he has led in Garhwal are Roop Kund, Kuari Pass, Sunderdhunga, Pindari & Kafni glaciers and Nanda Devi East base camp. He has also led treks to Kinnar Kailash, Bhaba Pass and the Pin Valley in Himachal Pradesh. Gauri conducts workshops to train and initiate the youth of Kumaon in adventure activities. He has conducted adventure activities for American Embassy School, British School, Shri Ram School, Vasant Valley School apart from leading several corporate groups. Apart from trekking, Gauri organizes rock climbing, rappelling, river crossing and similar adventure programs to develop the sport in the region and provide local employment opportunities. At Wild World India, he plans and leads treks/expeditions across different terrain, usually customizing it to suit the fitness level of individuals. For any information or assistance to plan your trek to the Himalayas, Gauri is the man.
