Industry Odisha Bureau, Oct 25: Indian safaris have long chased tigers. Trained naturalists are widening the focus to birds, insects and forest behaviour. Their work also supports education and conservation records.
For many visitors, an Indian safari succeeds or fails on a tiger sighting. Big mammals such as tigers, lions and rhinos remain the main draw. Yet a growing band of professional naturalists is widening that focus. They help guests read the whole forest, from birds and insects to plants. A safari without a tiger can still become a rich lesson in ecology.
Naturalists overlap with safari guides but usually carry a broader brief. They study and document surroundings, and explain them to guests. Many work at wildlife lodges; others operate independently. Manoj Sharma, chief naturalist at Jim’s Jungle Retreat in Corbett, traces the role’s origins. In the 1960s and 1970s, he said, lodge founders acted as naturalists themselves. As hotel groups entered wildlife tourism, demand for dedicated naturalists grew. Training followed in the 1990s and 2000s via Conservation Corporation Africa, now &Beyond, and Taj. Today, institutes, NGOs and lodges offer courses from 21 days to six months.
The profession is also diversifying. Independent naturalist Faiza Mookerjee welcomes the rising number of women entering the field. She credits employers and mentors with shifting guests’ assumptions that men lead forest trips. Neha More of Denwa Backwater Escape in Satpura sees rising requests for women naturalists. Several women’s groups specifically ask for them, she said. Families with young children are also seeking naturalists more often. Such accounts reflect individual lodges, not verified national data.
The craft rests on turning science into stories. More teaches guests to listen for alarm calls while tracking big cats. A langur, she explained, calls differently for dholes, leopards and tigers. Its alarm grows louder for leopards, which can climb trees. Tigers, passing below, pose less threat to animals in the canopy. Sharma leads walks to mounds most guests mistake for anthills. They are termite mounds, built to regulate inner temperature, he said. His 45-minute walks rarely end on time.
Delhi lawyer Karan Lahiri found that value during a 2014 trip to Satpura. Naturalists there told him the area was not prime tiger country. Instead, they showed him migrating Wandering Glider dragonflies, travelling from Africa to India. He now takes one to three family trips a year, choosing naturalists in advance.
Many naturalists also document wildlife populations, migration and seasonal change. Sharma has added four bird species to India’s and Uttarakhand’s records, Mint reported. He has contributed to more than 35 peer-reviewed publications. Such field notes can complement formal research, though observations alone are not studies. Naturalists may also work with forest departments to monitor tourism zones. Others help villagers manage human-wildlife conflict or teach schoolchildren about local heritage. Responsibilities vary widely across lodges and individuals.
For wildlife hospitality, skilled interpretation offers a way to differentiate experiences. It may also create specialised rural jobs, though reliable figures are lacking. Ecotourism is not automatically sustainable; it still needs regulation and careful visitor management. Trained naturalists cannot replace conservation institutions. They can, however, help visitors leave the forest more curious and better informed.
