Project Updates
A Sanctuary Report - January to March 2023
Notes, anecdotes and reports from Sanctuary Nature Foundation’s projects across the country.
Nature Trail: February 17, 2023
As many as 250 kids, teachers, and parents started out on a ‘Save the Tiger’ Nature Trail, to appreciate the biodiversity of the remarkable Maharashtra Nature Park in the middle of the city that was once Mumbai’s largest waste dump! Located next to Dharavi, this natural wonderland has turned into a virtual nature education hub for lakhs of children, particularly those from less privileged backgrounds. On the trail, conducted by expert naturalists, the children heard and saw Coppersmith Barbets, Common Tailorbirds, Common Mynas, House Sparrows, Black Kites, White-throated Kingfishers, parakeets and, of course, the ever-present crows. Additionally, they observed arthropods including ants, butterflies, and spiders. Curious and wide-eyed, the young naturalists were captivated. Nature Trails are a way for people young and old to access natural areas without damaging delicate ecosystems. By staying on designated trails and practicing the principle of ‘leave no trace’, visitors can help protect the environment and ensure that these urban habitats remain intact for future generations to enjoy.
Tiger Fest: February 17, 2023
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Fancy dress participants at the Kids for Tigers’ Festival in Maharashtra Nature Park, Mumbai on February 17, 2023. The programme’s theme for 2022-23 ‘ Only One Earth’ was highlighted through a series of events, including a wildlife-themed fancy dress competition. Photo: Sanctuary Photolibrary.
The much-awaited annual inter-school Kids for Tigers Festival was held at the Maharashtra Nature Park, with 650 students from 17 schools in attendance! The programme’s theme for 2022-23, Only One Earth, was highlighted through a series of events ranging from art installations, a wildlife-themed fancy dress competition, music from waste, natural rangoli, and face painting!
Art for the Wild: February 21-23, 2023
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Children from Kids for Tigers’ Kolkata schools during the ‘Art for the Wild’ Exhibition at the Gold Gallery. Photo: Sanctuary Photolibrary.
To strengthen the relationship between people and nature ‘Art for the Wild’, an exhibition of children’s paintings and sketches, was held at Gallery Gold in South Kolkata. The objective of the three-day exhibition was to stimulate creativity and spread awareness on the need for wildlife and nature conservation. The exhibition was organised by Sanctuary Nature Foundation’s Kids for Tigers and its Kolkata partners, SHER, an NGO run by the husband-and-wife team of Suchandra and Joydip Kundu. Thanks to the CSR support of H T Parekh Foundation, we were able to hire a popular art gallery where 255 artworks, drawn by Kids for Tigers’ ‘vanar sena’ adolescents (shortlisted from over 1,000 artworks created by children ranging from eight to 16 years) were exhibited.
Community Events
In association with Kids for Tigers, SHER continued wildlife-related film screenings and Audio-Visual shows in one of India’s most remote wildlife areas, the Sundarban Tiger Reserve and Biosphere. The purpose was to connect and educate local communities with their wild surrounds, to enable them to know more about the connection between biodiversity conservation and its positive impact on the climate crisis that threatens the world’s largest mangrove ecosystem!
Skill-Share Workshop In Mumbai: March 1- 4, 2023
A vital workshop was organised in Mumbai for four carefully chosen, professional nature guides from the Sundarban Tiger Reserve, in association with the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) with help from the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and the support of H T Parekh Foundation. The purpose was to upskill nature guides and expose them to some of India’s finest naturalists and ornithologists. This is vital to their careers and future livelihoods as ambassadors for the Sundarban Tiger Reserve, so they can better understand and communicate with visitors. The participants arrived in Mumbai on March 1, 2023 and were taken to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, where the programme was conducted. A wealth of knowledge was imparted to the guides in a short span of time by incredibly knowledgeable and experienced resource persons. Talks were held on a wide range of wildlife and natural history topics, beginning with a session on mammals by Saurabh Sawant, a professional naturalist, conservationist, and wildlife photographer. Saurabh also demonstrated how nature guides can help visitors get better images by themselves understanding light and shutter speeds, in conjunction with animal behaviour. Adesh Shivkar, who has vast experience with wildlife tourism and is the founder of the Mumbai Bird Watchers Club, spoke of how visitors could be mesmerised by birdwatching. Dr. Amol Patwardhan, an entomologist and Assistant Professor in Zoology at the K.J. Somaiya College in Mumbai, shared his knowledge and fascination for butterflies and other ‘lesser’ life forms. Dr. Parvish Pandya, Sanctuary’s Consultant Director for Science and Conservation, focused on the wildlife and ecology of mangrove habitats. Amar Deshpande, Senior Manager of Wetland Management and Sustainability at Godrej India, highlighted the ecosystem services provided by mangroves, and Vivek Kulkarni, Senior Environmental Professional, spoke on the vulnerability of islands to climatic changes. It was a powerful and diverse faculty that included the likes of Dr. Suchandra Dutta, Associate Professor and Head of Department, Botany at Rishi Dayaram and Seth Hassaram National College (RD and SH National College), Mumbai, who elaborately spoke about the world of plants.
At six locations across India: the National Capital Region of Delhi, Bengaluru in Karnataka, Nagpur in Maharashtra, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh and the surrounds of the Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh.
In the last few action-packed months, the Kids for Tigers programme in all six locations above were undertaken. The Tiger Fests were designed to enable kids to give expression to their determination to work to understand and protect natural India. The fests were all large-scale celebrations of biodiversity that brought students and teachers together from different schools to participate in events ranging from art installations from recycled material, wildlife-themed fancy dress parades, eco-friendly rangoli creations, non-toxic face painting, skits and performances, and more!
Kids for Tigers camps were successfully organised for selected Sanctuary’s Tiger Ambassadors and teachers from select Kids for Tigers schools. All the camps were held in wildernesses of nearby Protected Areas, where students were introduced to the magic of nature and to the difficult task that forest staff had in protecting this natural heritage. Tiger Ambassadors from Nagpur were taken on a thrilling tour to the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve. Bengaluru Tiger Ambassadors visited Kabini in the Nagarahole National Park. Delhi Tiger Ambassadors spent time in the Ranthambhore National Park, and those from Panna visited the Panna Tiger Reserve! Coimbatore students were treated to visits to Top Slip in the Anamalai Biosphere Reserve, and those from Hyderabad visited the Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary. All our Tiger Ambassadors met and interacted with naturalists, wildlife biologists, and Forest Department staff, and went on guided safaris and birding treks on foot in the company of adult supervisors, forest officials and naturalists. From the responses received, students, teachers and Sanctuary’s Kids for Tigers’ Coordinators all came away with fresh perspectives and renewed purpose!
Tiger Ambassadors from Hyderabad participated in a Regional Camp in the Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary. Photo: Sanctuary Photolibrary.
The Coimbatore students were treated to exciting nature trails to Kovai Kutralam and their experiences were shared with the citizens of Tamil Nadu through the national newspaper, The Hindu! Similar trails were conducted at the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary for Delhi students, and in Panna for students from Panna schools.
Ranthambhore Village Contact Programme
In and around 45 villages on the periphery of the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan, a year long programme unfolded with Govardhan Meena, who was himself a Kids for Tigers alumnus at the age of 13 years! Now in his mid-30s, he is Sanctuary’s experienced and charismatic Sawai Madhopur Kids for Tigers Coordinator. Working closely with the Sanctuary staff, he holds film screenings, drawing competitions, wildlife poster exhibitions, Audio-Visual shows, and more. The entire Sanctuary team works as one unit to strengthen the Ranthambhore programme, since this was the birthplace of Sanctuary magazine, where the late Fateh Singh Rathore, who virtually mothered the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, was honoured by our children. Some of the youth of Ranthambhore have been a part of Sanctuary’s mission for over two decades and to help them with their career development, Morningstar donated computers for us to start Sanctuary Computer Labs, that resulted in as many as 28 youth clearing the much-respected RS-CIT exam in February 2023. This sets them up for employment, even as they are poised to take up leadership positions in their respective villages.
